Hey Arnold! Hey High School!
by Daisy-Snicket
Summary: (Update:New title)Arnold's back in Hillwood, finishing High School, seeing old friends and going through another set of hi-jinks and problems that befall all fifteen-year-olds. Romances, First loves, Fights, and Curly running around in a loincloth. Yep, it was good to be home.
1. Prologue

Hey Arnold: Highschool Years

Prologue

H.S 119

The familiar sounds of bus breaks along with it's exhaust fumes spreading throughout the air around the high school. The chatter of over thousands of students echoed throughout the large campus. Groups of friends reacquainting themselves since the summer break. A boy teases a girl with a worm he found as she shrieks in disgust, another group of students are rehearsing for the theatre club tryouts that were posted all over. The heat from the summer still clinging for one more week or two till the fall weather rolled in.

This is what greeted Arnold as he stepped off the city bus and took in the site before him. He breathed in the inner city air, heard the laughter and chatter, and felt home.

Spending the last five years in San Lorenzo with his parents had been a dream. It had been hard to leave his friends and his grandparents, the latter who would visit him seldomly. After his 14th birthday in a small village with not many kids his own age, he expressed to his parents his wish to return to Hillwood, so that he may experience High School with his friends and graduate.

It did not take much convincing. It seemed that they were eager for the change.

"We want you to experience your teenage years the way you want to, we've taken away so much from you, and in return you've been a very good son to follow your parent's selfishness." Stella said to him when he had made the request.

"I agree, it's time we've moved back and settled." His father agreed.

Three days ago he moved back to Hillwood, just in time for the first day of his Sophmore year.

It was slightly intimidating.

He grew considerably, now 5'6 and still growing with a deeper voice since he reached puberty. Would anyone recognize him? Would he recognize anyone?

As he was caught up in his thoughts, someone bumped into him.

"Hey watch it!" cried the boy, looking down on Arnold with an attitude. Arnold realize that he had been standing in the middle of the sidewalk, blocking the path.

"Oh! Sorry!" He apologized and dipped out of the way. The other boy just grumbled and carried on mumbling about his schedule.

Arnold stepped up the looming stairs of the high school and made his way towards the front office.

He went to the front desk and waited for a short be speckled woman to notice his presence. When she finally looked up, Arnold spoke:

"Excuse me, I'm Arnold Shortman, I'm new and need my schedule?" Arnold asked.

"Take a seat over there, the guidance counselor shall see you in a minute, dear." the woman pointed to a group of chairs behind him, filled with several waiting students.

Arnold nodded, "Thank you." and took a seat in the nearest empty chair. He looked at the five other students near him. One was a redheaded freckled boy holding his left eye in pain, obviously waiting for the nurse. Another were two girls giggling and chatting about what boys they liked and rumors. At the opposite was a hefty boy in a football jersey, eating a Mr. Fudgy Bar, and to the left of him was a blonde girl whose face was obscured with a book and large headphones around her ears. He focused on the book cover, "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton.

The nurse's office opened and a large woman with bright red hair looked at the bunch, "So, what hit you this time, Mr. Horowitz?" she seemed to be addressing. Horowitz?

But the boy was up and walking towards the nurses office, "I fell into a can of soda..." with that the door closed.

Two minutes later the counselor door opened, 'Dr. Bliss' written across it. "Thank you, Mrs. Bliss!" said a teenage girl as she walked out of the office. A woman appeared right after her, middle aged and well dressed. "Oh Mr. Shortman, you're here for your schedule? Step in, I have it here on my desk."

The hefty boy with the Mr. Fudgy bar gave him a strange look as he walked past. Arnold shook Dr. Bliss's hand, "Hello! I'm Dr. Bliss, I'm your guidance counselor. You can come to me if you have any problems, need any advice, or any changes to your schedule." She went to her desk and shuffled through some papers before exclaiming "aha!" when she found the right one.

"This is your schedule, your homeroom is with Mr. Simmons in room 425. You take a left out the door and it's the fourth hall on your right." Arnold glanced his schedule and nodded before being rushed out the door. "I hope you have a good first semester, Mr. Shortman."

"Yes, thank you!" Arnold responded. He did as instructed and took a left out into the hall.

 _ **Back in the front office.**_

"Hmm..I could have sworn that guy looked familiar." The hefty boy said to himself, crumbling the wrapper of his Mr. Fudgey bar.

"Mr. Berman? What can I do for you?" Dr. Bliss asked, Harold Berman got up from his chair.

"Yes, Mrs. Bliss. I was wondering if you could move my lunch schedule from 1:00 to 11?" Harold asked, "I've got practice at noon and I can't play on an empty stomach!" He whined.

Dr. Bliss shook her head, "You know that schedule swap is in two weeks, come back then."

"Ow man!" Harold exclaimed, swung his bag over his shoulder and was about to leave. "Um, Mr. Berman?" Dr. Bliss asked, Harold whipped around, hopeful. She shook her head in reassurance, "Could you please get Ms. Pataki's attention?" she pointed to the blonde girl with her headphones in her ear and her nose still trapped in a book.

 _ **Room 425**_

True to Dr. Bliss's words, he found his homeroom with much ease. He walked in and saw that fourteen or fifteen students were already there, they barely looked up when he walked in. All chatting amongst themselves. It was then that he looked at the board, and looked down at his schedule, Mr. Simmons.

It couldn't be the same...

"Oh my goodness! ARNOLD!" Claimed the chipper voice of the teacher, there stood his old teacher, Mr. Simmons himself. He had a huge grin on his face, and walked over to envelope him in a large hug.

"Wow! That is you Mr. Simmons!" Arnold happily exclaimed, glad to see a familiar face once and for all.

"Oh goodness you've grown! I'm so happy you're back, you were such a special student to me and seeing you back here is just...just... great!" Mr. Simmons said, still beaming.

At this the attention of the entire class was caught, and two other people jumped up with equal enthusiasm.

"Arnold!" They both exclaimed, a tall thin boy in a green rock shirt and pants, and a shorter black haired boy in blue cap came running up to him... they barely changed except for their height and some scruff of hair along their chins.

"Sid! Stinky!" They too enveloped him in a hug.

"You're back!? Why couldn't you have told us sooner!?" asked Sid.

"Gee willickers! Yer taller than Sid now, Arnold!" said Stinky.

"It was a last minute trip, I figured I'd surprise you." Arnold answered, scratching the back of his head.

"Well it's a most delightful surprise indeed, Arnold." said Mr. Simmons.

"Where is he? Where is my main man? My buddy and best friend from thousands of miles away?" came a tenor voice from just outside the door. In walked Gerald Martin Johanssen, tall, built and just as cool and suave now as he was in elementary.

"Gerald!" Arnold and "It really is you!" after five years their secret handshake was still their most natural form of greeting.

"Gerald? I don't believe you're in my homeroom..." Mr. Simmons said as he looked at his roster.

At this Gerald presented a slip of paper and handed it to Mr. Simmons, "Switched this morning. I found out from Dr. Bliss what your schedule was and pleaded for us to have the same homeroom."

"That's awesome Gerald!" Arnold exclaimed, truly happy to have his best friend back in his life. The four boys made their way to their seats, each couldn't wait to tell the other everything that had been going on since Arnold left, or inquiring how Arnold had been.

"Alright, alright...the bell's about to..."

 ** _RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG_**

Several more students shuffled into class just as the bell called the school to attention.

Mr. Simmon's homeroom had about twenty five students within it, Arnold could recognize some other students as former elementary students that he remembered seeing in passing.

"Welcome to the 10th grade, Students." Mr. Simmons said, "I'm Mr. Simmons and I'll be your homeroom teacher." ...

The boys huddled together in whispered conversation.

"So Arnold, how was San Lorenzo?" Stinky asked.

"It was great, like living in paradise. Living with my parents and getting to know them was amazing." Arnold answered. Looking up and seeing Simmons carry on about his summer.

"Let me see your schedule," Gerald whispered, Arnold handed over.

Gerald scanned over it with interest, and had to contain his excitement, "Looks like we got 4 classes together! I can show you around!" He stated, not asked.

"That'd be great, the school looks so much bigger than our last one.." Arnold commented.

"So have you met anyone else since you've gotten in today?" Sid asked eagerly.

Arnold thought for a minute, " I think I saw Eugene in Nurse's office this morning, but I didn't have time to say hi to him."

"I don't mean Eugene," Sid said, "I mean any of the girls from our old class?" Arnold shook his head in response. "Boy howdy! We've come a long way from cooties, and puberty does magic!" Sid said snickering.

"Sid here, thinks he's a modern Romeo." Stinky said.

"Didn't Rhonda pour her punch on you at Peapod Kid's Summer party?" Gerald asked.

"I'm too intense for her, she'll come around." Sid said, wrapping his arms and leaning back.

"Telling her you'll marry her and whisk her away, to her face, is a bit much." said Stinky.

Arnold just laughed.

"Alright, next if anyone wants to sign up for sports clubs, the meetings will be posted on the gym door..." Said Mr. Simmons.

The door slammed open and hit the back of the wall with a loud "THUD"

Mr. Simmons and the rest of the class made their attention to the door, there the hefty boy from the office stood, panting heavily.

"Sorry Mr. Simmons! I got stuck carrying..." Harold paused, his attention towards Arnold, "THAT REALLY IS YOU!" he exclaimed.

"Harold, calm down, you can greet Arnold after homeroom." Mr. Simmons said..

And the second bell rang.

 ** _RIIIIINNNNGGGGG_**

"Awe man! my first class is on the other side of the school!" Harold whined, "I'll catch you later Arnold!"

 _ **The hallway**_

"Okay my man! Let me tell you what has been going for the last five years." Gerald said as they walked down the hallway. "This is a lot of information, so try to keep up."

"Nadine and Rhonda are not best friends anymore." Gerald started,

"Really? That's too bad, what happened?" Arnold asked as he hunted down for his locker.

"Time happened. Once Junior high came around, Nadine stuck with the microbiology and bug stuff while Rhonda went on to become queen of her own clique." Gerald explained. "Sid and Stinky are still close, and we see Harold from time to time but he's on the Football team."

Arnold nodded as he tried to keep up. _Locker 34B, 34C, 35A..._

"Eugene is still as unlucky as ever, as you seen. He's the president of the Theatre club now." Gerald waved a cute girl that passed by, "Curly is...Curly."

"Oh wait here's my locker. Locker 37C." Arnold signaled for Gerald to stop.

"Sheena's the resident Civil rights, animal rights, vegetarianism advocate at the school, you can always see her out protesting something with her group at lunch." Gerald explained as he helped Arnold open his locker.

"Ahh thanks." Arnold said as he put his books inside.

"No problem." Gerald continued. "Pheobe's in a band, does the triatholon for the school, will probably run for president, save the world, or invent something amazing. And I guess that's about it for now." he finished.

"Seems like a lot has changed since I left. I hope we can all still hang out like we used too..." Arnold mused.

"Don't bet on that, but with you around, you never know." Gerald said. "So we've got English Literature first thing, how lame."

And with that...the two boys went to their first class together in five years.


	2. First Day

What I hate About You

Episode 1 : First Day

A/N: This is an updated version, I combined the two parts.

 **Room 312- English Literature**

"...And we flew back four nights ago." Arnold finished telling Gerald his summer trip that took him back to Hillwood.

"Man it's good to have you back buddy, Sid and Stinky are great but the set's complete now." Gerald said as they arrived to their first class."You'll probably run in to Rhonda at lunch, news of you arriving will travel fast, and boy that girl hates to be the last to know, Nadine will follow, and slowly you'll get to see everyone today."

"What about Helga?" Arnold asked, noticing that Gerald had not mentioned their former tormentor and bully. Gerald opened the literature room door, and looked around for anyone familiar, but they were all strange faces.

"Uh, Helga's around...let's go sit in the back." Gerald said as he pointed to two empty seats in the back row. Arnold dutifully followed behind.

"Well, how has she been?" Arnold asked again, in truth he was quite curious, nay excited, to see Helga again. Since their last moments before ended up slightly awkward with a chaste kiss from him- he wondered if five years away had changed her much.

"Well, you see...Junior high and puberty really changed the girls in our group, as they say 'Girls mature faster.'" he said with motioned quotations with his hands, "Now they've molded themselves right into what High School does to kids!" he added with dramatic flare.

"What's that?" asked Arnold.

"The dreaded 'Cliques'." Gerald answered with a mock horror tone.

"I think you're being dramatic, Gerald." Arnold said, laughing it off, "I'm sure with a bit of convincing and a reminder of how much fun we all had- we could get the gang back together."

" Mmm...mmm...mmm" Gerald said, shaking his head with every sound "You always look on the bright side."

"Someone has to."

"Well if you can get Rhonda and Helga in the same room without a bloodbath, you be my guest." Gerald said and didn't seem to want to explain the meanings of his words.

But before Arnold could ask his best friend what he meant by that, the bell rang to start the class.

A portly man hobbled to the front, "Ah, Welcome to English Literature II, I'm your teacher..." With that the rest of the hour was bland and boring for both best friends.

* * *

 _**Stadium -GYM**_

 _ **10:50 A.M**_

Gerald had pointed Arnold in the direction of the Gym for his next period, wished him luck and where to meet him for lunch. To Arnold, his first day felt, slightly surreal. He'd seen some familiar faces, but rather than always seeing them- he rarely would seem them now. The school was so large, so many strange faces, new bullies, and social norms that he did not understand.

The Gym was also huge, almost imposing to walk up to. Perhaps only exaggerated by his own nervousness of the day. The pulled open the heavy metal door that made a loud 'Screech' as it swung. He could hear several coaches yelling names off of a roster. Bleachers aligned both walls and thirty students were spread throughout.

As Arnold made his way to the bleachers he heard a booming voice yell from across the gym, "HEY ARNOLD! OVER HERE!" came the loud boom of Harold Berman. Arnold saw the hefty boy wave him over to wear he was sitting in the far back left side. Arnold nodded and replied with a smile.

"Sorry I couldn't greet you properly before, I was late to class because I had to carry Lacrosse equipment for madame fortress mommy." Harold said, expecting Arnold to understand what he meant. "Are you going to try out for Football? Tryouts are this Friday- though there is club week next week if you're not into sports anymore." His blabbering friend said, pulling out his third fudgy bar of the day.

"Thanks Harold, I'll keep that in mind." replied Arnold. "So you've been playing football long?"

"Yea, made the team my Freshman year! Lucky! No one makes the team, but I guess my size has to do with it- Although Helga made the girl's Lacrosse team last year so I guess I wasn't the only freshman to make a school team." stated Harold.

"Helga plays Lacrosse?" Arnold asked, his interest piqued, after not having gotten any information from Gerald perhaps Harold would explain.

"Yeah, and good too. She was on some community Lacrosse teams in Junior High- something about a positive outlet for her aggression, you know since..." Harold stopped, then realized who he was talking to. "Oh yea, you weren't around then."

Arnold could have sworn the universe was out to get him when it came to understanding what happened to his group of friends. "Since what?" Arnold asked.

Harold looked around, "Well I guess it's old news since it happens so long ago, but Helga finally came through on her promise of beating someone up. In 8th grade she beat Rhonda up for spreading rumors about her home life, left Rhonda in the hospital for a week." he explained, "I mean there was blood everywhere, it took Sid, Stinky, Gerald and I- all of us- to rip Helga from Rhonda. Boy that girl's got the strength of a viking."

Arnold's eyes were wide, eyebrows raised, and couldn't believe what Harold had said. Sure Helga was a bully, but it was usually all bark, never bite. Harold continued.

"So Rhonda's parent's wanted to sue the Pataki's, but Mr. Pataki wanted to counter sue on slander- it got messy. So they decided to put Helga in therapy, drop her in a sport- and hope for the best." He finished.

"What kind of rumors? I mean what would make Rhonda say those things?" Arnold asked, he had a feeling that this was the tip of the iceberg as to why his friends had drifted apart.

"Well I'm too sure about the particulars, but something about Helga's mom being an alcoholic and her dad being abusive- which is true, but having it out there wasn't something Helga particularly wanted." He finished the last of his fudgy bar, "and some other people twisted their own version of it- so it got even nastier." he finished as he crumpled his wrapper up and shot it towards the trashcan- missing completely. "Ow man!"

"Okay students! Welcome to your first Gym class of the year..." said one of the coaches...signaling for the start of the class.

Harold nudged Arnold, "Hey got to go, I have football practice outside..." Leaving Arnold to contemplate and think over the large bombshell that Harold had inadvertently laid. Why would Rhonda say those things? How was Helga really? Had she gotten worse?

* * *

 **Lunch**

Arnold spied Sid, Stinky, and Gerald at one of the lunch tables in the cafeteria, Gerald waved him over as soon as his best friend spotted him.

"So man, how was your first gym class?" Gerald asked, sliding a tray of food to Arnold, "Got you the best spread before it was out."

"Thanks, and it was great. I ran into Harold before his practice." Arnold said as he sat down and joined his friends. Something about this felt nostalgic and the first thing that made sense today.

"Harold's a pretty good Linebacker." Stinky said, making conversation. "He's not all-star material, but ye figure it won't take long."

"Yeah, he sure made an impression last year with the coaches." commented Sid as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, he was also telling me abou..." Arnold seemed to be interrupted constantly today, because just then came the call of his name from no one other than Rhonda Wellington Lloyd.

"ARNOLD! There you are! I heard you were back and had to see you for myself." Rhonda exclaimed, marching toward his table with three other girls by her side. She looked very different and yet not so. Her hair was still in a bob but longer, her figure now that of a blossoming woman and make up now adorned her face. For the looks of it she was dressing for other females adoration, not for boys in her Micheal Korr outfit.

"Hey Rhonda, it's good to see you!" Arnold said, standing up to properly greet her.

"Oh how was San Lorenzo? You must tell me everything! We should meet up, make it a lunch date!" She stated. "I'll let you know, I just wanted to swing by and say hello to you, you were always a good friend Arnold."

"Hey Rhonda!" Stinky said.

"Lookin good, toots." proclaimed Sid.

"Yo." was all Gerald said.

But Rhonda only acknowledged Gerald, "Hello Gerald, it's always good to see you." and blatantly ignoring the other two.

"Well girls, we should get going- again, Arnold it's so great you're back." and with that left the tornado that was Rhonda Wellington Lloyd as she sat on the other side of the cafeteria, shooing away several freshmen who were at their table.

Arnold sat down, "See man, I told you." said Gerald. "Luckily she'll remember what she just said, otherwise that's the last you'll hear from her."

"Girls have gone wicked and unreachable." Stinky said as he took a bite of his lemon pudding.

"Still, I love to watch her go." Sid sighed.

"Oh Please Sid, first you followed Nadine for a week, then you ran after Gloria- the only other thing crazier than your infatuation with Rhonda Lloyd was the time you thought Helga Pataki was in love with you." Gerald expressed. Making Arnold cough.

"What?!" Arnold cried out, nearly choking on his roll.

"Yeah, Sid followed Helga around for two weeks, finally got some sense knocked into him when he tried to serenade her during one of her Lacrosse practices...about got his ribs smashed. Haha, I'm surprised you haven't targeted Lila!" Gerald laughed.

Sid shuddered at the thought, "Those girls can tackle. Besides Lila is great and all but she's too...nice."

"So what you're saying is, you secretly like rejection?" said Gerald.

"I like women with strong opinions, sure Helga's were a little too strong, but she wasn't boring." said Sid.

"Why aren't Rhonda and Helga friends anymore?" asked Arnold, finding the right opportunity to bring it up. "Harold had told me that they fought, because of rumors, what would make Rhonda spread those rumors anyway?"

Gerald, Sid, and Stinky looked at each other with a sagely stare, closed their eyes and nodded their heads at the same time.

"Puberty was the worst thing to happen to those girls." Stinky said. "Girls get mighty scary."

"What do you mean? We've went through puberty just fine, there has to be more to it than that." Arnold reasoned. Gerald shook his head.

"I'm afraid it isn't Arnold, it's exactly as Stinky says. Almost overnight in 7th grade, the ugly caterpillar that was Helga G. Pataki spun it's cocoon and broke free into an exotic, mean and strange beauty. Proper eyebrow tweezing had a lot to do with it- but to a bunch of hormone confused adolescents like us at the time, it was the biggest mystery we couldn't solve." said Gerald, reverting back to his story mode.

"Rhonda couldn't stand that all of the attention was off of her and now mysteriously on Helga, who had started to mellow out at the time." Stinky explained. "One could say Rhonda wer' jealous of Helga, and couldn't stand it, I mean Lila yes, but Helga? Course' wouldn't take long before all the girls went through their strange morphing, and Rhonda was back on top, but I still think she holds herself a petty grudge." said Stinky.

"So to sum it up, it was a fight over who was prettier?" Arnold deadpanned. The other three nodded. "That's stupid."

"Yep, and so Rhonda spread those rumors around, on account she thought Helga was becoming more popular, it was bad enough when Helga got to be the 'IT Girl'. Contrary wise, Helga didn't care about how many people liked her but the rumors were a low blow and well..you heard the rest from Harold." said Stinky.

"Boy Howdy, was it a sight to see when Helga finally lost her temper, she surprisingly tried to take the high road- but guess some instincts don't go away. Did you know the say she was scouted by a model agency?" Sid snickered. "Helga's a Cara Delevingne pretty while Rhonda's very Rachael Leigh Cook in her appearance, and Lila's like a lovely Lily Cole ."

"Gosh, who are all those people?" Stinky asked scratching his head.

"I'm a connoisseur of beautiful women, I know about every beautiful model, actress, and singer that's currently trending." stated Sid proudly.

"Whatever you say, buddy. And that modeling thing is just a rumor, could you get Helga Pataki to sit still and look pretty for an hour?" said Gerald.

Arnold just laughed,

However, if Rhonda Wellington Lloyd was a tornado, Helga G. Pataki was a hurricane.

The double doors to the cafeteria opened, and in walked Phoebe Heyerdhal and Helga herself, who had four other students trailing behind her, they were carrying large equipment and dufflebags.

Gerald waved toward them, trying to get the former one's attention. Phoebe smiled brightly in response, the bookish girl still remained but had grown into a pretty teenager who still dressed modestly, a severe contrast to the girl standing next to her.

Helga Pataki was exactly as they said. Gone was her unibrow and pink bow. Replaced were two finely groomed but distinctive eyebrows and a strange vogue beauty to her face, swept up blonde hair. She looked very much intimidating in her tank top, cut off shorts and combat boots. What he zeroed in one was the book underneath her arm, "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton, was that a class book to read, or had that really been her in the office that he had eluded?

"Gerald! ARNOLD! It's so great to see you!" Phoebe called, making her way over. "Helga come say hi to Arnold." She motioned for Helga to follow her, to which her friend responded by telling her other friends behind her to go ahead.

Helga and Phoebe approached the boys table.

"Helga! Phoebe! It's great to see you both, now I've nearly seen everyone today." Arnold proclaimed enthusiastically.

"Oh Arnold, you're so tall now! You look great! How was San Lorenzo?" Phoebe excitedly asked.

Arnold laughed and scratched the back of his head nervously, he had no idea that seeing Helga again would be so nerve wracking, but people have been building up the suspense today and knowing what he knew now...it was awkward.

"Thanks, San Lorenzo was amazing, it was great spending time with my parent's again." He said, turning his attention toward's Helga.

"You look good, Football Head." She said smirking, "It's good to see you." Well...he was and wasn't expecting that.

Phoebe gave Helga a stern look. Helga looked a little taken back at her friend's censure.

"Oh, I guess you don't want me calling you that anymore... so Arnold it's good to see you." She stated confidently, the intimidation factor rising in Arnold's opinion. "Sorry, old habits." she finished.

"No, it's okay. It's very nostalgic." Arnold stated. "And both of you look good too." he complimented, being the gentleman he was.

"Why, Hello Helga. Dream about me?" Sid said in a very poor suave voice, Gerald shaking his head in shame.

"I did, you didn't live through it." She deadpanned, and nodded her hellos to Stinky and Gerald who were cackling at her comment, then turned back to Arnold.

"Well I'm sure we'll catch up eventually foot-Arnold." Helga said, "I've gotta go, the guys are waiting for me to go over Lacrosse strategies, I'll catch ya later." with that she waved and stalked off towards the other table.

But not before passing Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, who glared at her but looked away in fright when Helga made a quick motion toward her, like a cat teasing a mouse- and snickered off to her own table.

Phoebe remained.

"Forgive her, I told her not to call you that." She apologized to Arnold who shook his head rigorously and waved his hands.

"Don't worry about it, she seemed nice." He observed.

"Yeah, the Lacrosse is really helping her with her temper issues." said the small Asian girl, as if proudly.

"Um..Gerald I was wondering if you weren't too busy on Wednesday to help with Band?" Phoebe asked, shyly.

His best friend blushed a bit, he noted. He'd have to ask about that.

"Sure thing, I'll meet you at the usual place." he said, trying to be cool, and to Arnold's shock, failing.

"O..okay." She replied, with a mixture of nervous and excitement, "I'll see you then, bye Arnold."

She skipped off toward where Helga went, and Arnold turned back to Gerald.

"The usual place?" he asked with a thin line of teasing.

"Shut up." his friend said as he finished up his lunch with his head down.

Not long after the bell rang, ending their lunch adventure.

* * *

It was like a dream to Arnold, one that seemed to never end- this day. So many scenarios he had managed to conspire in his head, but it seemed to fall flat. He had met most of his friends already, Gerald, Sid, Stinky, Harold, Rhonda, Phoebe, and Helga.

He and Gerald arrived at their second to last class of the day, Calculus. As they walked in they noticed Helga sitting in the back row, and Rhonda sitting in the front row, while several students littered the middle.

"Oh man." Gerald said as he witnessed the scene before him.

"We'll sit in the middle Gerald." Arnold said pointing to the gap between the two girls.

"You really have a death wish, don't you?" Gerald asked.

They dropped their bags down.

Arnold sat infront of Helga, and Gerald, behind Rhonda.

"Hi Gerald! Thankfully you boys are here to help keep the view better." Rhonda said with a smile. Obviously a stab at the girl at the end of the row, Helga seemed as if she hadn't heard.

Helga, had her nose stuck in her book, "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton.

"I think I seen you in the office reading that this morning, if I had known it was you Helga I would have said Hi." Arnold said, peeking over her book. She moved her eyes from her place on the page to meet his and brought her book down.

"Well, I'm glad you didnt', I don't like surprises." She said, still mean edge to her voice.

"But I am glad you are sitting there, it's a two seat bufferzone from the completely vapid." She responded, loud enough for those around them to hear- and snicker at. Rhonda whipped her head around and glared.

"Oh come on, Helga. You don't have to be so mean." Arnold said.

"What's it to you football head." She said, no ounce of kindess left, her eyes and brows furrowing to let him know he was trotting on dangerous ground very early on.

"Nothing! Nothing. I just wanted to get to talk to you and see how you've been, without the meanness." He said. She dropped her hard exterior a bit.

"I've been good, I'm Captain of the girl's Lacrosse team, I lead the Poetry society, and I do some extracurricular activites on the side." She said, her eyes sliding to Gerald, who was just observing.

"Enough about me, what about you. How has life been with your parents?" She asked, and he thought she seemed genuine in her niceness.

"It's been great! San Lorenzo was amazing, and getting to know the villagers were very hospitable, but I wanted to comeback and finish my schooling here, in Hillwood." He said. Being this close allowed him to get a better look at his former 9 year old tormenter. She listened to him as she tilted her head to side, her face seemed to have a permanent pensive look. He kept thinking back to the crazy and tulmutous girl he knew, while prettier and more a woman than a girl that he knew...she seemed to be missing that spark he had always seen.

"That's great, Arnold. I'm glad things have been great for you and worked out." She said, he noticed she had a monotous tone within her voice when she spoke.

"You look very pretty Helga." Arnold said out of the blue. There was a noticeable blush to her cheeks for a second.

"Watch what you say Football head- I don't take flattery very well." She warned.

' Obviously ', he thought.

"Are you tired?" Arnold asked, when she looked at him strangely, he elaborated, "You seem detached, that's all."

"Oh, no, I'm going through a bit of a writer's block, when that happens I get a bit depressed that's all." She explained.

"You're depressing all the time." Came the snide voice of Rhonda.

"Leave the girl alone." Gerald said. Not caring who it appeared he sided with.

But Helga didn't take the bait, and their Calculus teacher began to start their lessons.

The rest of the day flew by, one more class with Gerald and it was Home Ec, something that Gerald had despised.

* * *

 **Home Economics**

"Oh boy! It really is you!" Cried the flaming red head Eugene as he spotted Gerald and Arnold enter the room. His enthusiasm was infectous.

"Hey Eugene! It's great to see you!" Arnold said, not wanting to hug the boy considering their unlucky history together.

"Don't forget about me!" Came the high pitched voice of Sheena, who ran up from behind. She had grown taller, was a thin and wiry girl, a pleasant faced and dressed in very modest clothing.

"Wow, it's great to see you too Sheena." Arnold said, "So I guess that means other than Nadine, I'm pretty much caught up with everyone." he laughed.

"So you've met the rest of the gang?" Eugene asked cheerfully. "That's great! Haven't we all changed?"

"Well some more than others, others seem to stay the same...but I haven't met Lila yet." Arnold said.

"Well, I don't think you will- she moved back to the country over the summer." Sheena said, "It seemed her father ahd enough of city life, but I'm sure she'll visit."

"That's too bad." Arnold stated, genuinely upset. He had wanted to see what his first love was up to. He may not have harbored those feelings anymore, but to a boy- a first love was important.

"We just had a class with Rhonda and Helga, so day 1 down another 100 moe to go." Gerald commented as they sat at a joint table.

"Oh, it's a shame what had happened between them." Eugene stated, but more occupied looking at his Home Ec book.

"Yeah, I don't talk to Rhonda very much, but Helga did help plan a petition with me to provide more female authors into our curriculum." She said offhandly.

"She would." Gerald scoffed.

"Really?" Anrold asked, and to his friend next to him, Gerald had noticed Arnold seemed very interested in what was going with Helga G. Pataki.

"Yeah, we managed to bring in Sylvia Plath and Edith Wharton to the Junior Curriculum." Sheena explained truimphantly.

"Like, "The Age of Innocence"?" Arnold asked.

"Oh! You've read it?!" She replied happily.

Arnold shook his head, "No I've just seen that book around, that's all."

He looked over and noticed Gerald giving him a strange look. He responded with shrugging his shoulders.

The rest of the class period went on in a blur.

* * *

 **At the Bus**

"One day down." Arnold said, as he and Gerald walked to the bus stop, to take the city bus at the corner.

"Wasn't too bad, could have been..." This time it was Gerald's turn to be cut off. but this time at the sight before them.

Running around the top of the high school building was none other than Curly himself, now a 15 year old pasty boy with the same black bowl cut and glasses, and also in a loincloth. The school looked on as the boy ran from left to right of the building yelling Tarzan noises too and fro. "I AM KING KONG!" Arnold could hear him yell, "HEAR ME ROAR!". A couple of school campus security guards ran to catch the boy. As they appeared on the school roof- Curly jumped off the roof. Causing several girls to shriek in fear and horror, but the boy landed just fine in the grass. Running down the street yelling insanity.

"Well now it's over." Gerald said, looking at Arnold who was not in the least surprised.

Yep it was an end to a very eventful first day. What would the next one bring? or the entire year?


	3. Club Week

Episode 2: Club Week

The rest of the first week flew by for Arnold. He spent his mornings catching up with Gerald, he'd seen Harold periodically in the Gym, his lunch period chatting with Sid, Stinky and Gerald, calculus was dodging Helga's and Rhonda's verbal spar- with Helga always saving the best snarkers for last, and a boring home economics class with Sheena and Eugene.

Finally the second week arrived with such speed that he didn't know that Sunday had came. As he awoke that sunny morning, the smell of bacon and eggs hit his nostrils.

His grandpa or dad must have made breakfast, since the house didn't smell like chicken tikka Marsala like it had for the last two days because of his grandmother.

He dressed quickly and ran down the stairs in a blur, nearly knocking down Mr. Huynh in the process.

"Woah! Arnold, there's no rush." He said in his thick accent. "It's only Sunday."

"Sorry, Mr. Huynh, I'm meeting Gerald and the others today." he replied excitedly.

Mr. Huynh smiled, "It's good to see you back, Arnold. It's very boring here without you." He said as he waved the boy off.

Arnold arrived in the kitchen and was greeted by his parents and his grandparents. Part of him could never get used to the sight of the four of them together, but he couldn't deny that it felt complete.

"Good morning Dear!" called his mother as she made a pot of coffee, "Grandpa would you like some?" she motioned toward Grandpa Phil.

"Morning Short man!" His grandfather called, "Sure would like some coffee, Pookie woke up at the crack of dawn this morning to free all the chickens in the building next door."

"Kimba! I've freed the chickens! Next we go to the pigs!" his grandmother charged with her wooden cooking spoon. Arnold just laughed and shook his head.

"Now mom, Mr. Peterson came by last week and complained about you stealing his goat, leave his chickens alone." Miles said as he set a plate of breakfast down infront of grandpa Phil. "Arnold would you like some?" he asked his son, while sporting a frilly apron.

"Smells great, yeah I would." Arnold said as he plopped down.

"So how was your first week at school?" Stella asked as she sipped a bit of her coffee.

"It was great, it was nice to see my old friends again. But some of them seem to have drifted apart, two of them hate each other now. I don't know what to do to make things back to the way they used to." Arnold confided.

Grandpa and Miles looked at each other, his grandfather knew that Arnold's expectation of things being the same was a little unreal but felt his grandsom needed to see for himself.

"Well short man, youngins your age are at that point where you don't know what you want or who you're suppose to be. Some of your friends are working that out for themselves, and people change, it's not your responsibility to make things stay the same." his grandfather explained.

"I know, it seems that its mostly the girls who have drifted apart." said Arnold, taking a bite out of his bacon.

His mother looked at him for a moment then spoke, "Well girls around your age are going through a lot more changes than boys. They are becoming young women, and that has a very big effect on them. I remember that age, I was always changing my mind about what I wanted to wear, look like, and act like. But that's normal for teenagers." Stella explained.

"You sure were a spit fire." His father commented, winking at his wife, who giggled.

"Come to think of it, I remember when two of your little friends came to door last year, wanting me to sign some petition...for what I can't remember." Grandpa mused scratching his head.

"Who were they?" Arnold asked, his curiosity piqued as he finished the last of his eggs.

"Oh, well let's see... It was a tall girl with some weird flower ring on her head, reminded me of me old Woodstock days. Then there was the girl that used to tease you, the one with the pink bow and one eyebrow.."

"Sheena and Helga?" Arnold asked.

"Ah, definitely remember the last one. Could hardly recognize her- Pookie here kept calling her Madame Brigitte Bardot, though she looked more like a young Olive Thomas to me.." Grandpa Phil said as he want on to one of his ramblings.

"Great actress Olive Thomas, used to watch.."

"Did anyone else come by?" Arnold asked. Not wanting to be stuck listening to Grandpa's old stories.

"Well, come to think of it, your friend Gerald would stop by ever so often to see if there were any news of how you'd been."Grandpa Phil said as he snapped back from his reverie.

"We're meeting together today, just guys and I- Sure it's not everyone but it's a good start." Arnold explained. "Speaking of which I told them I'd meet them at the Arcade at noon, I should get going." he said as he looked at the clock on the wall, and wiped his mouth.

"Thanks for breakfast dad, I'll see you guys later." he waved as he ran out the door.

"Don't forget your...!" He could hear his mother call, but was already out the door.

* * *

Arnold had walked through his old neighborhood before, as soon as he had gotten back- but on this Sunday, he actually had the time to look around. Marty from Green Meats had mailed him photos of his new renovations- gone were the tile floor and cold steel, replaced with dark wood floors, brown butcher block countertops, and an earthy tone. Marty had said he hired a professional to come in to turn his business around and all that needed to be done was update the cosmetics, Marty liked the new look and it stuck. Plus his long history in the neighborhood and fresh look made him a great establishment for people to visit from the outter boroughs. The Flowershop had been taken over by 's granddaughter, who maintained it's outward appearance but decided to also sell fresh produce to bring in more income. As he walked down he noticed newer shops that opened in the older buildings, they were renovated and now looked more hip than he remembered. The crowd had changed as well, more younger adults were walking up and down, pushing carriages or college students picking up groceries.

Ernie had written Arnold and told him that the neighborhood had gone through a slow transition, things were getting renovated, new shops opening. Since the block was established as a landmark, the Mayor had tried a gentrification project to clean the streets up and make it nicer. So far it worked, but Arnold did miss the grit and grime character that he grew up with.

He made his way to the Arcade, which seemed to have remained untouched in time -still the same sign, the same vintage posters on the walls but inside it looked as if newer and hi-tech games were installed. Outside he spotted Sid on his phone, too engrossed to see Arnold approach.

"Hey Sid!" Arnold said as he approached, his wiry friend looked up from his phone and said a quick 'hi' before snapping back down again.

"What's wrong? You seem unsure about something." Arnold noticed, still ever the observer. Sid shook his head, "It's Club Week this Monday, and I'm trying to figure out which clubs to go into." He explained.

"Oh? What kind of clubs are you interested in?" Arnold asked.

"Well, there's the Future Female Leaders of Tomorrow, the Poetry Society, or the Theatre Club." He listed off. Arnold lowered his brows quizzically.

"I didn't know you had an interest in any of those things." said Arnold.

"Oh I don't. But they have the highest Female to male ratio." said Sid, "I can meet a lot of girls." and put his head down to the phone, "I'm looking at the current sign-up names, and so far Theatre is the strongest lead."

"So you're not participating because you're interested, but just so you can meet girls?" Arnold asked with a laissez faire face.

"Yep." was all Sid said, just as Gerald and Stinky approached.

"Hey man! How's it going? Did you wait long?" Gerald asked as they met with their secret handshake.

"Just got here." Arnold answered. "Sid was telling me about club week."

"Oh yeah, fergot that was tomorrow." Stinky said, "I'll jest be signing up fer the Future Farmer's of Tomorrow Club."

"How about you Gerald? What good clubs are there?" Arnold asked, Gerald rubbed his chin in thought.

"Well I'm actually the President of the Film club and I work with the Poetry Society, the Dance club, and Band students on occasion." he explained. Arnold raised his eyebrows.

"That's impressive Gerald, I didn't know you were committed to the Film industry, are you planning to pursue it after high school?" asked Arnold.

"Yeah, it's my passion. I film the Band and Dance students and the Poetry Club helps with creating song lyrics for Band and Dance or sonnets for Theater." explained Gerald. "It's very interconnected." Gerald pulled a piece of gum from his pocket and unwrapped it, "You should consider joining a club." he said as he popped the stick of gum in his mouth.

Arnold thought for a minute, he didn't know what he would pursue after High School, he'd thought about getting into the same business as his Parents and pursuing Humanities.

"It's also great, on account of we don't have classes the next two days. They want to encourage us students to join clubs." said Stinky, drinking a can of Yoohoo.

"We don't?"

"Nah, but you should go check out some of the clubs, if you're not sure and see which ones you like." Gerald said. "Couldn't hurt."

They spent the rest of their Sunday afternoon playing Arcade games like they did when they were 9. They talked about movies, games, and rumors that flew around the school and neighborhood. The day grew darker and as he said goodbye to his group of friends, he walked home thinking about what clubs would interest him.

* * *

 **Monday**

 **"Okay Class!"** Cried the over joyed voice of Mr. Simmons that Monday morning. "Today starts Club Week! For the rest of the week clubs will be open for new members, and I encourage all of you to explore new interests and sign up." he explained, while writing 'Club Week' across the board.

"Now there is a list of all the clubs posted on the cafeteria doors, and most have booths set up for you to visit. Gerald isn't with us this morning because he is the president of the Film club, so be sure to stop by and visit him and take a look at what his club offers. This also means for the next two days we don't have any proper classes, so I'll see you guys on Wednesday..."

"No classes! Alright!" Yelled Harold as he jumped up and ran out the door. "Wait, Harold.." cried Mr. Simmons, but the boy was gone.

Mr. Simmons looked at the rest of the class, "Well now you're dismissed. GO! Have fun and explore new interests!"

Arnold, Sid, and Stinky made their way to the school cafeteria, which was packed with eager Freshman and Sophmores.

"Well I'll catch ye guys later, I'mma go sign up fer Future Farmer's of America." Said Stinky as he pointed to the far left.

"I'm gonna mingle between Theater and Poetry, so I'll meet up with you later, okay Arnold?" Sid also said as he trotted off.

Arnold looked around at the busy bustle before him, he spied Nadine offering flyers from a booth labeled, "Big Bug Club", and decided to finally pay her a visit.

"Hey Nadine! It's good to see you!" Arnold said as he approached, Nadine now wore her hair in a long braid, and had grown taller, her mocha freckled skin glowed as she spied her old friend. "ARNOLD! It's great to finally see you! Sheena told me you were back." She said as she ran around the table and gave him a big hug. "Are you looking at joining a club today?"

"Yeah, I was just browsing." he said, taking a look around him.

"Well here, have a flyer, you should come out and go bug hunting with us tomorrow!." Nadine said as she shoved a green piece of paper in his hands. She then spied others looking over her booth, "Okay, well it was good to see you Arnold, go and check out some of the other stuff- come back if you have time."

Arnold nodded goodbye to her, and watched as she animatedly talked about her club with some other students.

"Hey Arnold! Over here!" he heard the low tenor of his friend Gerald, looked around and spotted him several booths down.

"Hey Gerald, have anyone sign up yet?" Asked Arnold. Gerald shook his head, "Not yet, but the day's still young. Eugene's on the Theater booth and you can visit Helga at the Poetry Society booth outside. Go mingle and I'll catch up with you at noon for lunch."

Arnold did just that, he walked several booths down and noticed 'Photography Club", and decided to take a look. Standing there was a tall, lanky, sandy brown haired boy with braces, holding a Nikon D40 around his neck.

"Brainy?" Arnold asked. The boy looked at him and waved.

"Uh...hi." Brainy said with his usual short and glib responses.

"You run the Photography Club, I had no idea you were interested in photography." Arnold said, he noticed a portfolio on the table open with some black and white photos inside, and peeked through several pages.

"Uh...yeah." was his response.

The photos were very good, they captured the essence of the moment, some were street shots, others were candid, as he turned the page he was take aback at the subject of fifteen photos all in a row. They were very invasive, close ups of the same person with an annoyed expression, and with the black and white creating an artistic view of the person's face. The one that stood out the most was directly in the center, she was looking off camera a bright smile on her face as if she was in the middle of laughing when the photo was taken. He could see where they would think she'd be a good model.

"These are amazing Brainy...but...does Helga know you took these pictures?" Arnold asked, fascinated at how many pictures there were, and at how well it told a story of her.

"Uh...no." said Brainy. No indication that what he had been doing was invasive or wrong.

"Well you're a very good Photographer." Arnold said as he was about to move along. He knew Brainy had always had a fixation on Helga Pataki, it was something every kid knew at P.S 118, except for maybe Helga herself.

"Uh...Thanks." Brainy said as he waved goodbye.

He had managed to walk towards the Theater Club and noticed Sid standing there as well. Eugene was going off ecstatically about some Macbeth production in the spring, Sid looked bored.

"Oh Arnold! There you are! Would you be interested in joining the Theater club?" Eugene beamed as he spotted him. Sid snapped out of his bored trance.

"Oh there you are Arnold! Actually Eugene, Arnold and I were going to go look at the Poetry Table...We'll see you later!" He said as he literally pushed Arnold out the door.

"Thanks man, you really saved me!" said Sid. "He had me there for ten minutes."

"I guess theater is out for you?" Arnold joked.

"Yeah..way too much of Eugene to handle." Sid replied. "Look, there's Helga, let's go see how her club's doing." said Sid as he pointed to the third booth along the path outside.

Helga was there with what looked to be Peapod Kid, talking to a group of Freshmen. She looked much the same as yesterday, but wore a baggy blue flannel, she seemed really engrossed into what she was saying.

As Arnold and Sid approached the caught a portion of what she was saying, "...every Tuesday. We do free verse to modern prose, so feel free to come and join us and do some reading." she finished as she handed some flyers to some Freshmen girls, and two freshmen boys who seemed to be more interested in the President then the actual club.

"We look forward to see you there!" said Peapod Kid as he waved them off. "Oh Arnold, It's good to see you, Helga here was telling me you had just got back." the sunglasses wearing boy said as politely greeted them.

"Hey! It's good to see you too, Hey Helga how are..." Arnold was about to greet her when Sid slid his way in.

"Hey Helga, is this the roster? Don't mind if I sign up." said Sid as he grabbed the sign up sheet to write his name down. The blonde snatched the pad away in an instant and looked at Sid with a scowl.

"If all you're doing is signing up to hit on the girls in our club, don't think about it." She warned. "Hey football head..." Said Helga, then caught herself. "I mean, Arnold."

"You've always liked writing, so I guess it makes sense for you to be head of the Poetry Society." Arnold said, as he looked over the materials on their booth.

"Well, It's just a hobby." Helga said, slightly embarrassed. Arnold could tell that she still had a problem with social awkwardness, but was vastly better than their elementary days.

"Don't be modest, Helga's a master a creative prose." Peapod Kid stated, but was elbowed by Helga and made an 'Oof' sound right after.

"What's wrong? He's only complimenting you." Arnold said.

"As I've said before, I have a problem with flattery." Helga said, her scowl remaining. "But...thank you Peapod Kid." The last part seemed slightly forced, as if she was training herself to say it more often.

"I shouldn't have elbowed you, I should take your compliment as...well received." She calmly stated, and to Sid and Arnold it was like she was reading out of a self-help book.

"No problem." Peapod Kid stated, as if her explanations were normal.

"That's very mature of you Helga." Arnold said. "I wouldn't have expected that of you."

Helga sat down in her chair and propped her combat boots on the booth, her face back to a serene calm.

"Yeah, well my therapist is working with me on that." She stated.

At that moment, Rhonda and her posse were walking by. Arnold could see they had flyers for Fashion clubs and High Society clubs within their arms.

"Still seeing a therapist Helga? How are they treating your mentally ill state?" She snubbed, her group of friends giggling behind her.

"Come on Rhonda, that's not necessary." Arnold said as he observed. Helga just rolled her eyes.

"Oh hello Arnold, are you planning to join a club?" She asked as if she hadn't said anything insulting at all. "You should join the Fashion Club, you've always been a great dresser."

"Run along now, before you start needing therapy." Helga said, a fake prissy smile on her face and her hands making a 'shoo' motion.

"What therapy?" Rhonda scoffed.

Helga raised and eyebrow, took her boots of the booth and stood up to be at eye level with the Posh Fashion queen.

"Physical Therapy." Helga threatened, Rhonda just huffed.

"Let's go girls, we have a Fashion Club meeting to attend, I'll see you later Arnold." She said the last bit as if the encounter with Helga never happened and walked off into the cafeteria.

Arnold looked back at Helga, "Why don't you two try to get along?" he asked, "I mean this charade has to be exhausting." He looked around for Sid and noticed that his friend was currently talking up the Band members.

"Trust me Football head, it's not." Helga said, "Now do you want to join our lovely little club or not?"

Arnold made an annoyed expression, leave it up to Helga to bring out this side in him. He grabbed the red pen on the table and signed his name on the roster.

"When's the first meeting?" Arnold asked.

"Tomorrow at 11, at the corner Cafe next to Slausen's. Peapod Kid's mother is baking delicious blue berry muffins." Helga said, switching from annoyed to pleasant conversationalist towards the end.

"I'll see you then." Arnold said as he waved and walked off to find Gerald.

* * *

"Hey, did you sign up for one?" Gerald said as Arnold made his way back to the Film Club booth, by now the day was wrapping up and most of the booths had closed. "You can always join the Film club."

Gerald was taking down the club sign, and closing shop for the day, "We got 12 new members so far, not bad."

"That's great Gerald, I actually just signed up for a club." Arnold said as he helped his best friend pull down the sign.

"Oh yea, which one?" Gerald asked while multitasking.

"Poetry." Arnold said, causing his friend to immediately stop and turn around.

"Poetry?" Gerald repeated. Giving his best friend the "I know somethings up" look. "With Helga G. Pataki?"

"Yeah." Arnold said, as if it was no big deal. Gerald fixed his posture so that he was holding his weight down on one hip and leaning on the side of the table with is arms crossed.

"Uh huh." he said.

"What?" Arnold asked.

"Does this have to do with Rhonda and Helga? Are you planning on some scheme to make them befriends again and therefore bring us all closer together." said Gerald.

"Well, I just think..." but Arnold was cut off by Gerald putting his hands up.

"I'm not involved." his friend interjected, "You're a bold kid, Arnold." Gerald stated before packing up the rest of the supplies.

"Let's get going." Arnold nodded and helped Gerald carry the supplied towards the front. They heard a crash and several students making a ruckus not too far away. They turned around and looked at the sight before them.

Helga was being held back by several of her Lacrosse players as she was trying to lunge for Brainy at the Photography Booth. Arnold guessed word got out about Brainy's photos of Helga.

 **End of Episode 2**


	4. Olga Transfers

Episode 3: Olga Transfers

Helga G. Pataki hated surprises, ever since the whole 8th grade incident, she would develop a cold sweat, began an anxiety attack and end with an irrational display of anger. It was something Dr. Bliss wanted to work on. But that Monday night, after coming home from the most monumental day of her teenage years- Helga felt truly exhausted. Having your first love move back and confronting him while appearing nonchalant despite the years of obsession she had to overcome- was very trying.

What made it worse was returning home that night and finding her older sister's Volvo parked out front. Great, she went from nervous to seeing Arnold again, to elated from him telling her she was 'pretty', to annoyed that her sister was home again.

Helga walked up the brownstone steps, mentally preparing herself for the charade she was about to play. Miriam had eased up on her "smoothies" but Bob was still the same blowhard as he always was. It got worse when the technology changed, and beepers were obsolete. Helga had tried to warn her father before hand at the change in technology, given that most of the ad campaigns had targeted her age demographic...but her father was too stubborn.

"Oh my god, it's great to see you Olga!" Helga sarcastically said to herself in the best valley voice she could muster. And as the universe always proves...it was not truly to herself.

"It's great to see you baby sister!" her perky older sister said, the minute she opened the door. The next thing she knew, she was enveloped in a deep and unwanted hug from her 26 year old perfect sibling.

"Oh...Olga...didn't know you were coming." Helga said, in the most careless and monotonous tone she could muster.

"Isn't it great Helga? Your sister arrived this morning," came Miriam's seldom chipper voice.

"Yeah, she's planning to stay awhile, isn't that great?" Bob said, a genuine smile on his face.

"Great...Just great. I'm the complete picture of jubilant." stated Helga.

"That's not even the best part!" Olga exclaimed, grabbing Helga by her cheeks an smashing them together. "I'll be teaching at H.S 119!" Olga stated with elation.

It took exactly 3.5 minutes for Helga to process this information. "What?" she said, with thinly veiled anger.

"Yes Baby Sister! I'll be the newest Calculus teacher at P.S 119! And you're in my class!" Olga clapped, her idiotic smile infectious to her mother and father.

Helga stood there for a second, before Harvey, the mailman for the neighborhood interrupted their reunion.

"Hello Mr. Pataki, I have some mail for you." Said Harvey as he handed a stack of mail to Bob Pataki.

"Thanks." he muttered, barely looking at the mailman as he was delivered his mail. Bob shifted through it like he always did.

"Well daddy, mommy! I want to express how happy I am to be back! Let us go inside and I'll make you a delicious French dinner I learned from Chef Pierre La Cherrie!" Olga stated before leading Bob and Miriam inside.

Helga followed reluctantly, dragging her combat boots against the carpet in the foyer.

After a beat she heard Bob question a piece of mail he stumbled upon.

"What's this? John Hopkins University? Olga I didn't think you enrolled in another college." Bob said as he tore open the official document. Despite how calm Bob was in opening such a mail, Helga's ears perked, and at the sound of "John Hopkins" her heart dropped.

Bob took the paper inside and scanned through, reading aloud in a careless manner.

"Dear Ms. Pataki, we are pleased to inform you that we have accepted your early enrollment and are looking forward to having you attend our University..." He read aloud.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!" Helga about screamed. "I GOT IN!?" and for the very first time in Helga G. Pataki's life, she felt amazing. She snatched the paper from Bob's hands and stared, a smile plastered upon her face as she scanned the acceptance letter, in it's official print down to the signature.

"What's this?" Bob asked, confused. "You applied to a college? At Sophmore level? I thought we'd agreed you would attend Wellington, like your sister." Bob said. skeptical at what was happening. "Hopkins is across the country."

"And the basis of it's appeal." stated Helga, not afraid to express her opinion on the matter.

"Well how are you going to pay for it? We agreed on Wellington, NOT Hopkins." Bob said, crossing his arms. Helga scoffed.

"Please, Hopkins is a more prestigious school than Wellington, and you know it." Helga said. "Why can't you be happy for me?"

"How can I be happy when you go behind our backs and decide your future?" Bob argued, his voice raised.

"Just because I don't follow Olga's route, doesn't mean my career choice is any less valuable and it's MY future." Helga argued.

Miriam and Olga looked on in nervousness. Helga and Bob were very strong in their opinions, and it was like a brick wall fighting a brick wall.

"Perhaps it was a mistake." Bob said.

"Why do you have to diminish every accomplishment I do?" Helga argued. "Are you afraid I could surpass Olga AND yourself? Trust me, it's not hard."

"How dare you belittle your sister like that!" Bob fumed. "Go to your room! You are not going to Hopkins! I FORBID IT!" he yelled.

Helga stopped, stared down her father. "You think that." she said as she marched up the stairs to her room.

When she was out of sight, Bob Pataki calmed down, looked toward his eldest daughter, who had a perplexed look on her face. "Now, where were we? You were about to make us dinner." He said.

Olga snapped out of her trance and back into the dutiful daughter she was used to, "Of course, it's a Duck Con..." but her voice died away in Helga's mind as she sat in her room.

* * *

Poetry Reading

When she saw that Arnold wanted to join her Poetry Society, she considered herself an up and coming actress at how calm she was. Despite spending the last twenty minutes finding something great to wear before the Poetry meet... she dismissed it as nervousness. Helga G. Pataki hated thinking over herself as 'attractive'. It brought her nothing but hardship since 7th grade, if anything she wanted to be the ugly duckling she used to be. After settling on jeans and a nice black blouse, she swept her hair up in it's typical high ponytail- to balance it she left her face bare of makeup.

11:00 came as she greeted about 18 people from the meet and greet the day before. Honestly, she had no problem playing the well behaved lady to strangers, but her old friends were another story.

She saw Arnold enter the cafe, Gerald right behind him. Oh well, she didn't mind Gerald, after all they had an agreement. But that was for another time.

She greeted Arnold as she would anyone joining there club.

"Hey Foo- Arnold." She paused, "I'll get it proper eventually." she said, genuine in her attempt.

"Hey Helga!" Arnold said, "It's good to see you, are you going to be reading today?" he asked. Gerald looked at her with a meaningful look.

"No, I'll be reading next week, today is for new members, so if you want you are welcome to sign up just over there." Helga pointed to to the left, at the corner of the bar where the sign up sheet lay.

"Would you like to read today, Gerald?" She asked, not liking the attention his friend was giving her. She knew Gerald never felt 'that' way, but they did have a mutual if not professional arrangement before, that Arnold may get the wrong idea if he knew about.

"Not me, I'm here for Arnold." Gerald said, sincere and seeming to try to communicate some meaning to her.

"Well it's not mandatory, we read on Tuesdays, and we are scheduled to orchestrate the Theater's independent songs as well as lyrics for Band in the winter." Helga explained, trying to be the President that she was nominated, not the love-sick 9-year-old she was.

In the hour that followed, 10 people read their own poetry verses. as the President of the Poetry society, Helga G. Pataki was elated that so many people joined. But still nearly a nervous wreck that Arnold was apart of it, even if he didn't read.

At 11:45 A.m, Helga too to the mic to end the meeting. "Thank you all for attending, meetings like this, and free reading are every Tuesday. You can express your ideas and creativity in a group who appreciate NOT judge your ideas. We help Band with lyrics, create sonnets for Theater, and each semester the best songwriter is chosen to help a local band in the neighborhood." Helga explained, proud that she was able to be stable, even if Arnold was watching.

"We have links to the Film club," She looked pointedly at Gerald, but was polite enough not to single him out. "Who help broadcast our group."

"I hope to see you again on Tuesday, thanks and club is dismissed." She finished, watching as the group stood in accordance, paid their bills and left for the day.

Helga rearranged her papers, and tried to keep herself busy so Arnold and Gerald could leave without her having to talk to them.

No such luck.

"Hey Helga." Arnold said as he confronted her last. Gerald waved at them both and ducked out early. 'traitor' she thought.

"Hey Arnold." Helga said, make extra sure she got his name right and didn't call him by his nickname.

"That was a great session, I wish I could have heard you read, though." He said, Helga felt awkward.

"Well, I don't entertain a trial crowd." Helga said.

"No I imagine you don't." Arnold said smiling. "So, it's good to actually talk to you." He added.

"Yeah, you too." she replied.

"So, I've heard a lot about you, but I'd rather hear from you how you've been." he said.

The thought that Arnold had heard the plethora of rumors that surrounded Helga G. Pataki was not welcoming in the slightest.

"Not to great, Football head." Helga said, as she reverted back to her mean nature.

But Arnold was used to it.

"Why is that?" He asked, motioning for them to sit down at table in the cafe. Helga followed.

"I just found out my sister will be our new Calculus teacher." She said, depressingly, not caring if Arnold heard her.

"Oh, well Olga was always nice." He said, in his attempt to always look on the bright side.

"I learned I got into John Hopkins University." She said, though not expecting him to know the severity of it.

"Really!? JOHN Hopkins? That a very great school, and at SOPHMORE?" He inquired, clearly impressed. "That's pretty amazing, I mean even Phoebe would be on the waiting list for Harvard."

"Yeah well, Bob wasn't too happy." She expressed, not know why she was airing her dirty laundry. But she could remember a time when Arnold was always there to give her advice.

"Why wouldn't he be happy?" Arnold asked. "That's amazing news. You're a step ahead of everyone in our class...including Phoebe." said Arnold. "Does Phoebe know?"

"No. It just happened yesterday. I wouldn't want her to feel inferior to me." Helga expressed.

"I don't think she would be, she'd be happy. Everyone knows you're just as smart as her, even if you try to hide it." Arnold expressed.

"If your parents don't express their happiness, come over to the boarding house, and I'll tell my parents and grandparents, they'll celebrate easily at your news." Arnold expressed.

Helga blushed but shook her head. "No thanks, I don't think I want anyone else to know." She expressed.

Arnold was a bit confused, but had to respect Helga's opinion, and was very glad that she would open up to him about the situation.

"Well thanks for showing up, I'll see you tomorrow in school." Helga said, getting up from her seat. "It was good to talk to you," she added.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Arnold said, before they bid farewell to each other.

* * *

 **Wednesday**

Lacrosse practice in the morning helped her focus her negative energy into a "positive" force, as Dr. Bliss would describe it. With Olga in town and Arnold feeling sympathy for her, she was in overdrive in her aggression.

"Great hustle Pataki!" said coach Wittenberg. "You've got the aggression of a Spartan" he said.

"Thanks coach!" Helga said. Happy to please at least someone.

"Alright! Our first game is in two weeks, so I expect perfection!" Wittenberg said, dismissing the rest of the girls.

Helga wiped her sweaty face on her hand towel, happy that practice went so well.

"Hey! How was practice?" Arnold said as he greeted her. To say she was surprised was an understatement, after a minute she got composure.

"I'm sweating like a pig, and yourself?" She answered.

" I'm thinking about joining baseball." Arnold answered.

"Well it's a lot tamer than Lacrosse." said Helga.

She wiped the rest of her face, and packed her bag, swinging it across her back.

" Are you in Gym?" She asked, Arnold nodded in response.

"Yeah, but it was boring." He answered. " So I was thinking a lot what you said yesterday. And it made me more aware of what I should focus on." He said.

"Well Baseball is a good sport so I can't argue." She said, offering a rare smile.

Arnold took it as a great invitation. "So how long do you thing you and Rhonda will keep this feud up?" He asked, almost confidently.

Her feeling of ease and comfort lost instantly, "As long as it takes." She said seriously, " I know you haven't been back long, but don't misunderstand and think that I had something to do with this petty situation." she said.

"I don't." Arnold expressed. " I just want us to all get a long like we used to.

At that Helga scoffed, grabbed her duffle bag and looked pointedly at Arnold. "And that's what makes you naive." she said. Brushing past him and walking toward the cafeteria.

* * *

Calculus came, and it was the most dreaded class she could think of, even if her mortal enemy Rhonda was in it. With Olga teaching it only would fuel fire to Rhonda's offense, and Helga made it a point to always be one step ahead.

"Good morning Students!" said Olga as she greeted her Calculus class. "My name is Ms. Pataki, and I'll be your math teach in place of Mr. Fairfax." she explained. "In case you didn't know, my baby sister, Helga is right over there-" she said, pointing to Helga. the class looked in her direction, Gerald and Arnold included, and all Helga could do was lower her head in her hands and shake it in shame. "But I won't pick favorites! So don't worry!" Came the chipper voice of Olga Pataki.

"Helga do you have anything to say to the class?' Olga asked, expecting to hear some praise on her end.

"Yeah... I was adopted and my real father is Toulouse-Lautrec." she said, buffing off her sister.

"Haha! Isn't she hysterical!" Olga said, laughing off Helga's sarcasm as endearment.

"Whatever you say, sister." Helga said, blowing a bubble with her bubblegum.

"Now we'll be learning about the mysteries of Probability and Statistics!" Olga exclaimed excitedly.

Helga just rolled her eyes and then noticed Rhonda raising her hands in the air. Olga nodded towards Ms. Lloyd.

"Yes, I just wanted to say Welcome to the class, and that your outfit is extremely adorable." Rhonda said.

"Why thank you...Rhonda, that's very kind of you! I hope we become the best of friends!" Olga said, beaming.

Helga made a vomiting noise that got the boys of the class laughing, Arnold and Gerald included.

Olga looked at Helga in censure, "Now Helga, that's not very lady like!" Olga replied.

"Well, I should get back in the kitchen and know my place." Helga said, mockingly- earning even more snickering from the boys in the class.

For the first time, Helga saw Olga go green. "Now that's it Young lady!" Olga cried, "You march yourself right to the principal's office."

"Fine, better than listening to this sorry excuse of a Teacher." Helga said, grabbing her books eagerly and storming out the door.

Arnold and Gerald watched her go with disbelief.

* * *

 **Guidance Counselor**

 **"Well,** Ms. Pataki..." said Dr. Bliss. "What can I do for you today?" She asked, as Helga laid upon the chaise sofa.

"My sister is now my Calculus teacher." Helga said simply. "Arnold, my youthful obsession is back and now apart of my Poetry Club, I got accepted into John Hopkins University while still in the 10th grade and my father is actually MAD about it..." Helga said, "And that's about it for the last two days."

Dr. Bliss was taken aback at the amount of information. "John Hopkins?" She asked, to make sure she was accurate in her hearing.

Helga nodded.

"That's great Helga!" Dr. Bliss said, "That proves that you have the skills to thrive in an academic environment!" she said excitedly.

"Yeah? Tell Olga and Bob that." Helga said. "Can I go now?"

"Well it wouldn't be my job if I made sure you were okay." Dr. Bliss said, " How about you and I go out for lunch?" She asked.

"Whatever you say doc." Helga answered.

 **End of Episode 3**


	5. Best Friends and Former Bullies

**Episode 4: Best Friends and Former Bullies**

 **Thursday**

Arnold looked at the try-out sheet posted on the bulletin board in the Gym, grabbing the dangling pen attached he wrote "Arnold Shortman" under 'Baseball Team'. He scanned and to make sure he got the date and time right.

"Baseball team, huh?" came a voice behind him. Arnold whipped around to see Harold eating a fudgey bar.

"Yeah, I was playing ball with Gerald and the others yesterday for the first time, and realized how much a I liked and missed the sport." Arnold said, "Uh..shouldn't you be at football practice?"

"Coach benched me on account of my knee." Harold explained, motioning toward said appendage. "Banged it pretty bad the other day."

Arnold looked concerned, "Aw, it won't affect the rest of the season will it?"

Harold shook his head, "Nah, just a couple days." he pointed back to the sign up sheet. "So baseball? That's great! Gerald and the others don't play any sports anymore, and besides madame fortress mommy and myself- it'll be nice to have another friend on a sports team." Harold explained.

"Yeah, Helga's on Lacrosse. When's her first game?" Arnold asked.

Perhaps it should have been known to Arnold that he spent a lot of time asking and wondering about Helga. He repeated to himself it was just a friend being concerned about a friend, and his goal was to help Rhonda and Helga make amends and bring the old gang together. Most would call his motives behind it selfish, but Arnold thought he was truly doing the right thing. He would push down any spring of thought that eluded to having an ulterior motive to wanting to spend time and know about Helga G. Pataki. Despite their awkward scene on the FTI Building, and that kiss he returned in San Lorenzo, purely in gratitude to what she had done.

"I think the first Lacrosse game is in two weeks." Harold said scratching his head. "I always like to watch one, those girl's are brutal and it's awesome watching them kick the other team's butts." he explained, jubilantly.

* * *

 **Lunch**

Arnold walked towards the lunch, and spotted Sid and Stinky and eating at their usual table- Gerald was no where in sight.

"Hey guys, where's Gerald at?" Arnold asked as he set down his lunch tray, it was chicken sandwich day.

"Probably off flirting with Phoebe, said something about needing to help her carry band equipment." Sid said, taking a bite out of an apple.

"Yeah, it's downright exhaustin' watchin them dance around each other." Stinky said and he finished his lemon pudding.

Arnold laughed at his friend's expense.

"Oh yea, I heard Helga's sister is your new Calculus teacher." Sid commented, "Lucky! I'd give anything to be her student." he sighed dreamily.

"Yeah, Helga didn't seem too happy about it." said Arnold in thought, he was reminded of the Poetry meeting the day before, he wondered if she was going to dress up as nicely as she did on Tuesday. When she was acting as President of the Poetry Society, she looked every bit the proper and professional young woman he thought she was, and rather pretty when she put effort into it.

"Well both Pataki sisters in one class is like having night and day go on at the same time." Stinky said. "One's bright and cheery, the other's dark and moody, it's like they're two sides of one coin."

"Well, Helga's always been tempestuous." said Stinky, Sid turned his head in looked at him.

"How is it- you don't understand our English Advanced Literature words but you can throw out words like 'tempestuous' out of nowhere?" Sid asked.

"Gosh, I don't know either."said Stinky.

"Arnold! I was looking for you." Came the feminine and slightly snobbish voice of Rhonda Wellington. She did not have her gaggle of girls with her today.

"Oh Hello Rhonda." Arnold greeted her. She held a pink folder to her chest as she smiled as if she had the greatest news.

"I just found out the best bit of news and I had to share." She said, sitting down unexpectedly but her attention on Arnold and not on the other two boys.

"What's going on?"asked Arnold.

"I just heard from Sheena that Lila will be transferring back to our high school, turns out her father liked city life better than he thought." Rhonda said. "Isn't that great? And you two where absolutely cute together when we were kids so I thought you of all people would be thrilled to have her back here again."

She jumped up excitedly, her bob swaying.

"Well now you've heard it first from me!" she said, pointing to herself dramatically.

"Actually Rhonda, I wanted to talk to you about..."Arnold started but was of course interrupted.

"Well I'll talk to you later Arnold, as always it's great talking to you."

And off she went that was the tornado of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd.

"You think she likes talkin to you so much, on account of she does all the talkin?" Stinky asked.

Arnold shrugged, and barely spoke two words for the rest of the lunch period.

* * *

 **Calculus**

Arnold walked in before most of the students, and saw Olga writing down formulas on the board and began to do something he hadn't done in a while- he daydreamed.

What would she look like now? Was she still the sweet girl that he had idolized when he was a kid? To Arnold, Lila was the epitome of 'girl-next-door' beauty. He imagined her seeing him again, older and grown up, would his appearance sway her favor? Perhaps their first meeting with be by accident, bumping into each other and him handing her a folder as she took a double take and smiled her coy smile at him...hundreds of other scenarios went through his head, as it does to all adolescent teenage boys who dream about the reunion of their childhood crushes.

 _"Oh Arnold, you're so funny."_ He could hear her saying.

"Arnold."

" _Oh Arnold, you're so tall now."_

 _"Arnold."_

 **"Arnold."**

 _"Arnol.."_

 _"_ **Football head!"** Came another voice that broke through his day dream. He snapped up and looked around and was met with Helga G. Pataki staring down at him, her face the picture of annoyed. He then fixed his face to mirror hers.

"I thought you were going to stop calling me that." he said. She shrugged. "I did call your name, but 'Football head' was the only thing that brought you back to reality." she said.

"Now can you _please_ move your bag off my desk?" she said pointing behind him. He muttered a sorry and grabbed his bookbag.

Thinking of Lila made him take a hard look at Helga. How different could Lila be if Helga changed this much in appearance? Would that sweet girl now be a doppelganger to Helga in personality? He shuddered, ONE Helga was enough- and it was pretty hard to try to BE like Helga. As he thought about it, Lila had danced the tune of what was right or expected, Helga marched to the beat of her own drum with her own music that no one else could hear.

Wait why was he comparing Lila and Helga in the first place? He shook his head as if in doing so would shake away his thoughts. He shut down all thought before his subconscious answered any unspoken questions.

Gerald ran in just as the bell was ringing, winded from running all the way to class.

"Where have you been?" Arnold asked.

"No where, I...had some club things to do." He brushed off, turning around in his seat as the class was about to start.

* * *

After School

Arnold walked home by himself that day, as much as he wanted to sit and go on imagining scenarios. The most pressing matter was Rhonda and Helga, with the next Poetry Reading coming up soon he thought that perhaps he could ask Helga to help him understand some poetry then ask Rhonda to... No that wouldn't work, Helga would sniff something was up from a mile away. He'd have to think of way to get them to open op to him without them sensing there was an ulterior motive. Rhonda was shallow and probably couldn't understand what he would be asking, and Helga was guarded that she's be oversensitive and shut him down WAY before he even attempted.

Just as Arnold turned a corner he noticed Gerald infront of Mrs. Vitello's Flower Shop, a bouquet of perennials in his hand and a large dufflebag over his shoulder, he bid the shopkeeper farewell as he walked off, a little ways in front of Arnold.

What was this? Gerald with flowers? Arnold remembered Gerald said he had club activities after school today. Was he meeting Phoebe and was too embarrassed to tell him? Arnold hated being too nosy, but then again, he was just thinking of meddling into Helga and Rhonda's affairs, but his best friend was taboo.

Well they were going the same way, couldn't hurt to keep pace behind him.

Arnold noticed Gerald was wearing nicer clothes, fueling his curiosity and suspicion that he may be correct. Gerald walked two blocks up before stopping infront of the same cafe they went to for the Poetry Reading, Cafe Aut Latte.

The door opened, just before Gerald reached the front, and out walked a very pretty, very nicely dressed BLONDE girl, she was wearing simple but elegant black dress with heels, her hair pinned in a ballerina bun, with light makeup and was definitely NOT Phoebe.

The girl smiled and met Gerald with a hug as she grabbed the flowers, they shook hands and seemed to converse naturally. Arnold took a hard look at the girl in question and realized that with the nice clothes, pretty makeup and rare smile and good humor on her face she was almost unrecognizable but that was definitely Hegla G. Pataki.

They smoke animatedly, more animatedly than Arnold had seen Helga speak in the time he started school. His curiosity was full blown. Gerald seemed to be keeping something from him- he did act weird today. With Helga? Anger began to ripple through him for some reason, why should it bother him that they were together, in secret? It had to do with his best friend in the whole world was keeping this a secret from him, it couldn't be that Gerald could easily elicit a carefree smile from the guarded girl that he hadn't been able to reproduce. What happened to that 9 year old girl that would only show HIM those small moments of kindness in between the bullying, that seemed to be at ease with everyone BUT him now?

Helga had motioned for Gerald to follow her into the cafe. Arnold followed to take a peek through the cafe window.

They sat at a table in the far left near the piano, Gerald carefully dropped his dufflebag near his seat as they both sat down. Arnold remained rooted as he saw them speak animatedly between them, he could see Gerald's face clearly and only the back of Helga's head. He seemed to be going on about something with passion.

Arnold didn't care that he was getting weird looks from passerbys, this was too surreal.

Just then the cafe door opened, and a waiter yelled in his direction.

"This isn't a display window! Move along or come inside!" he yelled, causing several people within the cafe to look his way, including Gerald.

Arnold tried to duck out of view, but his best friend caught his eye- and instead of a look of guilt or shock within Gerald Johanssen's eyes- it was confusion.

Helga turned her head but could figure out what everyone was looking at. Gerald made a motion that he'd be right back.

Arnold tried to walk as fast as he could, but Gerald called out 'Hey Arnold! Wait." and waved his friend down. They met in the middle.

"What are you doing here man?" Gerald asked, "Are you spying on me?" Gerald laughed, not understanding that his joke was truth.

"Are you not seeing Phoebe?" Arnold asked, anger slowly rising again. "Does she know you both are going behind her back..."

Gerald looked confused, really confused. "What are you talking about, man?" Of course I"m seeing Phoebe, she's just a bit shy at letting everyone..." But he was cut off.

"Then why are you on a DATE with HELGA G. PATAKI?"Arnold nearly yelled. "You sat and told me not to get involved with her business, is this why? So I wouldn't find out you were two timing and she betraying her best friend!?"

Gerald let that sink in, then knitted his brows together in growing anger and insult, "YOU THINK I WOULD DO THAT?" He boomed. "What gives you the right to follow me and make these assumptions!"

Arnold stood his ground, "I see you get flowers, hug each other, and then she smiles at you in a way she doesn't smile at m...anyone!" Arnold yelled back, catching his almost slip up.

Gerald lowered his head in his hands and shook his head rigorously. "Man, you got it all wrong." he said, "And I didn't lie to you."

"Then why ARE you here?" asked Arnold, wanting to know the truth.

"I'm here just the reason I said for, CLUB activities." Gerald explained. "I'm head of the film/audio club, Helga requested by services for a side project she's doing."

"Why is she all dressed up?" Arnold asked.

"Man, do you have to do this now? I'm kinda in the middle of something." Gerald said.

"What's going on?" Gerald and Arnold heard, coming from the direction of the cafe.

There Helga stood, looking between the two boys in total confusion. Arnold got a good view of how much effort she put in, and it paid off. She looked stunning up close.

"Why are you here, Arnold?" Helga asked, more out of curiosity than meanness.

"I told him to meet me here, to let me know about an assignment." Gerald covered, looking pointedly at Arnold, "He was just leaving."

Helga shifted her focus from one to the other, sensing something was off but ignored it.

"Well, the musician just arrived, so could you come back inside so we can discuss the audio recording?" She asked Gerald, motioning inside.

"Yeah, I'll catch you later Arnold." Gerald said, brushing past him and made it a point to hint to Arnold that he was still upset.

Helga nodded and looked back at Arnold and nodded toward him before going back inside. Gerald shook his head and followed her. Leaving Arnold alone on the street.

* * *

Saturday

Arnold tried to call Gerald for the last two days, to apologize but his mother had always said that he was busy. He thought it over that night he ran into both of them, and after being rational it made sense. Helga was the head of the Poetry Society and Gerald was the head of audio/film, it was natural that the both of them would combine their projects together.

"What's the matter short man?" His grandfather asked as he messed with his food that night for dinner. "You seem gloom."

"Nothing, Grandpa." Arnold said. "I did something that made Gerald angry, I'm angry at myself for it." He explained. Grandpa Phil lowered his newspaper and looked at his grandson.

"Well, what happened to make him so mad?" He asked.

Arnold sighed before explaining, "I basically accused him of cheating on his girlfriend with Helga, when in reality it was just a club meeting between two presidents."

"Well, you could just sincerely apologize and explain you were wrong." his grandfather answered.

"I've tried, he's not answering his phone." said Arnold, taking a halfhearted bite of his peas.

"Why don't you go over there right now and say it in person, it's only 7:30." said Grandpa Phil.

"You're right, I'll be back." Arnold said abruptly as he stood and ran out the door, but not before grabbing his coat.

"Aren't you going to finish..." his grandfather called after him, but the door closed. "Well more peas for me!"

The Johanssen House

Arnold rang the doorbell, waited a beat before the door opened to reveal Gerald himself. "Oh, Hey Arnold." his friend said, tired.

"Hey Gerald, look I wanted to apologize what I said the other day..." But Gerald held his hand up.

"All is forgiven, don't mention it. I'm not even mad anymore." said Gerald.

"But why haven't been calling me back the last two days?" asked Arnold, both of them moving from the door and out on to the stoop.

"I've been busy with club stuff, I've been meeting Helga over the last two days getting a song recording done." Gerald explained, "The musician has been trying to get the lyrics just right." But Arnold looked confused.

"Is that what you met her for? To do a song recording? When did Helga have anything to with that sort of thing?" Arnold asked.

"They're her lyrics, she writes poetry and is a songwriter, the musician we found was to cover the song so she could send it to a studio to sell." Gerald explained.

"Does she want to be a songwriter?" Arnold asked, but Gerald shrugged.

"Helga doesn't discuss her personal motives towards things, we talk about pure art direction and what's good for the project we're doing." He explained.

"Helga's really changed, hasn't she?" asked Arnold, more rhetorical.

Gerald thought for a second, "Well I suppose in physical appearance, yes she has. But she can still be a pain when it comes to producing something she's set her mind on, she's very bossy at getting her ideas out there and right- but that's what needs to be done to get the job done."

"Well, I just came to say I was sorry, I shouldn't have accused you of anything." Arnold said, changing the topic.

"All water under the bridge man." Gerald said as they both did their secret handshake.

 **End of Episode 4**


	6. Girl Trouble

Episode 5: Girl Trouble

 **Homeroom**

The four boys were discussing their Labor day plans that morning, Gerald had suggested going to the lake, Stinky wanted to see the new Evil Twin III movie, and Sid had wanted to go to Rhonda's End of Summer Party. Arnold, well he just wanted to hang out with all of them.

"Well class I'd like to first introduce a new student, but a familiar face to some of us-" Mr. Simmon's introduced as he motioned for the new student to walk into the classroom. "Lila Sawyer!"

Lila Sawyer was a fresh face of freckles, it seemed the years away had made more appear upon her pretty face, that only seemed to highlight the green in her eyes. Her hair now one braid instead of two, wrapped together in auburn locks. She stood and smiled at everyone in her green and white striped sweater.

"Everyone say hello!" Mr. Simmons expressed, getting a less than enthusiastic reply from the rest of the class.

Arnold felt his heart start to pound in nervousness, now was the moment. Perhaps he thought it would go differently, but Lila walked over and sat down four seats in front of him, not looking his way or registering his existence.

Maybe she didn't see them, maybe he changed more than he thought- or perhaps the most fearful thing to him was that she changed, and now their friendship was just aquaintances.

When the bell rang for the start of first period, the four of them went to go greet Lila properly.

"Lila! Looking good as usual, how you been toots?" Sid asked, is sauve voice less pushed and more of a friend genuinely asking.

"Oh hello! It's ever so great to see you guys!" Lila answered, her voice like soft caramel. She settled her eyes on Arnold, "Oh my goodness! Arnold is that you?" She asked, beaming with joy. "When did you come back?"

"Hey Lila! It's great to see you too, I just got back the start of the year." Arnold explained.

"It would be ever so nice if we could catch up," Lila said as she got up and packed her stuff to go, "Let's all talk at Lunch!" She said as she waved and bid the other boys goodbye.

Gerald and Arnold walked halfway to their next class.

"So, how do you feel man?" Gerald asked, Arnold looked at him confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You just met your childhood crush for the first time in five years, that's big, man." Gerald asked, seeing right through him.

Arnold thought for a moment, It was very nice seeing Lila again. And he couldn't lie to himself that after all this time his stomach still did flip flops whenever she was around. But he'd have to get to know her again, she didn't look like she changed but given the situation with the rest of his friends- he couldn't be too sure.

"I don't know, I guess it's nice seeing her again." Arnold said, trying to come off a little cooler than he felt.

"Well, I'll see if I can spot her at lunch and we can all hang out." Gerald said as he waved off Arnold, who made his way to the Gym.

* * *

 **GYM**

"Baseball practice is next week, huh?" came a voice that ripped Arnold out of his reverie. He was sitting on the bleachers outside and as he looked up the glare of the sun that hid her face from view for a minute before she shifted over to sit next to him.

"Hi Helga." Arnold said as he noticed she was in her Lacrosse uniform.

"Yeah Baseball... I nearly forgot about that." Arnold answered her. "You're Lacrosse game is next Friday, right?"

Helga nodded, "Yeah, against H.S 210."

"You seem conflicted," Helga observed as she took a drink from her water bottle.

"Just thinking, is all." he answered, facing the field and watching students sprint and do jumping jacks.

"About the return of the great Lila Sawyer." Helga said. Arnold looked at the girl next to him.

"What? It's not that hard to figure out." she answered, "You've had a crush on her since we were 9."

"Well things change, I was just wondering if perhaps she did." he answered.

"So what?" Helga said.

"What do you mean? 'So What?'" Arnold echoed.

"So what if she changed, people change -that's apart of growing up. You can't expect us all to remain the same from 9 years old to 99, foot- _Arnold_." She expressed, "Change is sometimes good."

"Sometimes it's not." Arnold said, referring to Helga and Rhonda's current relationship. Helga shrugged.

"Doi, but bad changes and good changes- they're not mutually exclusive, they both happen to the best of us." She expressed. "It's how you handle the change that is important."

"Besides, what do you know about her now? What's her favorite color? What's her favorite book?" She asked, skeptical. "Learn a little more about the girl before you have a melancholy breakdown, football head."

To Arnold, this was the first time he had heard a bit of the old Helga within this new one, he glanced at her and noticed that she too, was looking out across the field, her eyes held a faraway look to them.

"So, Gerald had said that you were doing a song recording- I didn't know you were interested in that sort of thing." Arnold asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Yeah, Gerald told me the misunderstanding you had between us." Helga said, smirking, while simultaneously dodging Arnold's question.

Arnold couldn't help but blush in embarrassment and shame, "Well, I didn't expect him to actually tell you that."he said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"We both got a good laugh out of it, it was funny." she said, chuckling a bit. "Gerald helps me out with some side work, I asked him to pick up a certain kind of flowers because the owner of the cafe, Mrs. Gunt, likes those flowers and she has been gracious in letting me use her cafe for club meetings and other projects." Helga explained.

Arnold got a flashback to Helga and Gerald greeting each other the week before, he still couldn't help but feel irritated at the memory.

Helga took a long look at Arnold before standing up, "Well I should get back to scrimmage, about the Lila thing- believe it or not, she hasn't changed- I'm convinced she refuses to, for good or bad." Helga told him as she walked off, he could see the words PATAKI written over the numbers 07 on her uniform.

* * *

 **Lunch**

 **"HEY ARNOLD!"** came the booming voice of Gerald as he waved Arnold to a different table then their usual one. There sat Sid and Stinky as the conversed with a politely enthralled Lila Sawyer.

"Hello, Arnold!" Lila greeted, "Come sit over here, I would love to know all about your life in San Lorenzo." She said, patting the space next to her.

"Sure, well there's not much to tell." Arnold said as he sat down.

"Oh I'm sure you're just being humble." Lila said, "How was living with your Parents?"

Arnold seemed to be growing tired of explaining these trivial questions, and told her the same spiel he had told everyone else.

"That sounds amazing! I'm ever so certain your parent's were so happy to find you again." Lila expressed.

"Lila! There you are!" came Rhonda's voice as she walked up, "I'm so happy to see you here, would you like to have the rest of lunch with us?" she asked motioning towards her table.

"Oh Rhonda! That's ever so nice, but I'm sure I'm going to have lunch with them today- we can have lunch together tomorrow?" asked Lila sweetly.

"Don't worry about it, I can't wait to catch up." said Rhonda as she walked off with her gaggle of girlfriends.

"I guess Helga and Rhonda are still not friends." Lila said, looking toward Gerald, Stinky and Sid- who all three shook their heads.

"I haven't seen Helga yet, how is she?" Lila asked, looking around to the other boys.

"She's around." came Gerald's voice, who always seemed less interested in the topic of Helga G. Pataki. But if you were to ask him- it wasn't out of dislike, but that they spent a lot of time together during club activities and the thought of having her be the topic outside of that was a bit too much.

"As beautiful as a butterfly in winter." said Sid.

"You mean more like a praying mantis." Stinky corrected.

But the girl herself came into the cafeteria, this time with no Phoebe in sight but a couple of other Lacrosse players.

"Oh there she is!" said Lila as she jumped up from Arnold's side and ran to the blonde girl, now back in her usual tank top, ripped shorts and combat boots.

"It's great to see you, Helga!" exclaimed Lila as she wrapped her hands around the other girl. Helga was taken aback a bit before she regained composure.

Helga awkwardly escaped from Lila's grip, "Good to see you too, uh...still got a problem with the touching." Arnold heard Helga say.

 _Again a flashback of the other week of her hugging Gerald so casually and smiling flew through his head, why would she tell Lila she had a problem with hugging? Was Gerald more special to Helga than his best friend knew? What happened to Helga being 'in love' with him when they were children..? These thoughts raced through his head but was snapped out by Lila._

"Doesn't she look oh so different, Arnold?"asked Lila, referring to Helga who stood a few feet away. "I'm sure you were surprised when you first saw her when you came back."

"Uh yeah, Helga looks really pretty now." Arnold said, but saw the irritation build in the girl's eyes and added, "I mean.. Helga you've always been a tomboy...now you don't look like one..." The other three guys looked at each other as Arnold seemed to be stumbling on his words in front of Lila and Helga.

"Okay Football head, don't force yourself." Helga responded, her meanness now back. "Look, I'm gonna go now- I'm having one of those 'socially awkward' moments and if I stay, I'm just gonna get meaner so I'll catch up with you later, Lila." Helga said as she wormed her way out of the situation and towards the lunch line, her high ponytail swinging behind her.

"Well, what are we gonna do for Labor day?" Asked Sid, breaking the tension and bringing the attention on another topic.

"Still say we go see Evil Twin III." commented Stinky, taking a bite of his chocolate pudding, he ran out of lemon.

"We can go to the movies any day of the week," argued Sid, "Let's just go to Rhonda's party."

"Arnold, you got any ideas?" Gerald asked, taking a bit out of his PPJ sandwich.

"Um, not really- How about you Lila? What would you like to do on Labor day?" Arnold asked, earning an eye roll from his best friend.

"Well, I could always ask Rhonda to have her party at the lake, I'm sure she'd like that." said Lila.

"Hey, I won't complain if we're still going to the lake." Gerald said.

"Well I'll ask her tomorrow, then." said Lila, the other boys nodded in agreement.

* * *

The Next Day

"I've spoken to Rhonda, she says a party at the lake is a wonderful idea." Lila said as she walked home with Arnold and Gerald.

"That's great Lila, I knew you could convince her." Arnold said. "Though I'll have to convince Helga to come along." he mused, mostly to himself.

"That' girl will probably crash Rhonda's party anyway, she always does." Gerald said, bored of the topic already.

"Well, I'm sure Helga would love to come along, you should try and convince her Arnold." said Lila as they stopped for cars at an intersection.

"Yeah, she's a less unapproachable then she used to be- I'm sure her and Rhonda would be friends again if they just had a little push." Arnold explained, ignoring the dull eyes of his best friend that were boring into him.

"I couldn't agree more, Arnold." Lila answered, "It's nice that you still care about your friends still."

Arnold's attention was now back to Lila, "So I guess I'll see you at Rhonda's party?" Arnold asked,

"Don't you mean we?" Gerald commented, in the background.

Lila nodded enthusiastically, "Of course! I'll see you two on Monday!" and with that she waved and walked down another street towards her house.

Arnold watched her go then looked back to Gerald, who was crossing his arms and staring at him.

"What?" Arnold asked. Gerald just shook his head like he always did.

"What's with you man?"

"I don't know what you mean." answered Arnold as they walked together.

"You meet the girl of your dreams since you were 9, and all you can talk about with her is Helga Pataki." Gerald said.

"That's not true." Arnold protested.

"Yeah, it is." said Gerald, then asked "I mean do you like Helga?"

"Of course I like Helga, she's still a friend- less of a bully now." Arnold answered, but Gerald shook his head.

"No, no, no. You know exactly what I mean. Are you really trying to fix the situation between Rhonda and Helga or are you just really interested in Helga, herself?" his best friend asked, serious to a fault.

"That's crazy Gerald! This is Helga G. Pataki!" Arnold said, as if that was some excuse.

His best friend wasn't buying it, "I saw you kiss her just before you left with your parents." He said. As if this statement now shook the foundation of their friendship. "I didn't say anything, because I thought you'd tell me."

"We were 9, and that was just out of gratitude of what she had did for me." Arnold explained, now nervous.

"So it's okay if I kiss Helga tomorrow?" Gerald asked, trying to get Arnold to admit to himself the truth.

"What do you mean?" Arnold asked, exasperated, "Why would you kiss Helga?!"

"Out of gratitude, she's helped me a lot in getting me connections for my Film/Audio club." Gerald explained.

"That's different. She helped me find my parents." Arnold said.

"Whatever you say, man." answered Gerald, dropping the subject. They continued their walk home in silence.

* * *

 **That Night**

"Why the long face, Tonto?" asked his grandmother as he walked into the Sunset Arms Boarding house.

"Just having girl trouble, grandma." Arnold answered as he set down his book bag on the floor of the kitchen. "I don't know what to do."

"Girl trouble, how so?" Grandma Gertie asked as she hunted down a fly with a fly swatter.

"Well there's a girl that used to bully me, I think I see her as just a friend I want to help out, but now another girl I used to like when we were little is back, and I feel conflicted." Arnold explained.

"How so, Tonto?" His grandmother asked, and to Arnold it seemed as if she hadn't heard.

"I just explained.."

"If you only see the first girl as a friend, why would you be conflicted about your other one coming back?" His grandmother answered.

"It's complicated." Arnold answered, this time his grandmother swatted at her target and claimed victory.

"Sounds quite simple to me, Kimba." Gertie said, finally looking at Arnold, "You don't see the first girl as a friend."

"Of course I do, I mean she's a lot nicer than she used to be, and she gives me great advice..." Arnold listed, but his grandmother shook his head.

"Oh to be young, Mr. Franklin!" she said before charging out of the kitchen after another fly.

Arnold sat outside on the roof that night as he looked at the sky. Gerald was right, the day had come when he had seen his childhood love, Lila Sawyer, and the entire time he spent with her, he kept talking and asking about another girl.

He thought back to all the times he could remember...

 _"And DON'T YOU DARE FORGET IT, FOOTBALL HEAD!" he could see her fuming in her pink dress and bow._

 _"What's it to you, Football head." she said one time he caught her sabotaging her sister's Big Sis/ Little sis date._

 _A little slice of his Cheese Festival date with Lila came in as a blur._

 _"This is reality, Football Head." She said as they spent Thanksgiving wandering around._

 _"That's what makes you naive." He could see her 15 year old self say to him as she brushed him off._

 _"Do you even know her favorite color? Her favorite book?" he recalled Helga asking._

 _A flash of pink._

 _He flashed at the cover of "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton_

 _"People change-that's apart of growing up." He recalled her saying to him earlier that day._

 _The image of Helga and Gerald hugging each other with smiles on their faces crossing his mind again in a flash, replaced by her walking figure in her Lacrosse uniform, PATAKI and 07 sticking out clear as day._

And suddenly it hit him, like cold water to his face, a certain truth that had been springing up in his mind over the last few weeks.

"I think I like her, like her."

 **End of episode 5**


	7. Labor Day

**Episode 6: Labor Day**

 **Saturday**

"We need to find a great haberdashery!" said Eugene Horowitz as he took a sip of his Chai Latte.

"What did you just say to me?" responded Helga Pataki, as they both sat down at Cafe Aut Latte, discussing the Fall play for the theater club.

"A haberdashery, one who sales Male Clothing." Eugene explained. "They would have a suitable suit for the male lead."

"Well good luck with that, I don't do costume and makeup that's Rhonda's department- you know that, and we don't do joint meetings." Helga explained, she had a sheet of the sonnets in her hand and was looking over them, "These should be told in Iambic Pantameter, I don't want any modern prose during these scenes." Helga explained, writing it out along the page.

"Well, I'm just so glad you can help with the scene direction Helga! It's been a while since you treated me to some tea." Eugene said, taking another sip.

"Well I don't have long, I'm on break, Mrs. Gunt wants me to work double today." Helga said as she scanned through the rest of the page, "All looks good, now remember I can't meet on Tuesday because of a club meet, Wednesday's out due to a private project, and next Friday is my first Lacrosse game." she explained, "The best we can do is meet in two weeks to go over any changes for the Macbeth play, by then you should have your costume designs from Rhonda." After that she closed the folder and handed it back to Eugene.

"Thanks for going over it, I'll tell Sheena the changes." He said as he finished his beverage.

"No problem, well I have to get back to work,"Helga said as she stood up. She was wearing her usual short sleeved black dress and heels for work. "Stay a bit and you'll get to see the acoustic band coming in at noon."

Eugene nodded and ordered another tea as Helga stood up and put on her apron.

"Coming right up." Helga said in the best pleasant voice she could muster.

Helga had been working for Mrs. Gunt since last fall, she had made it a deal to host her Club activities with the cafe, causing increased revenue for the owner and in exchange Mrs. Gunt would provide Helga with a steady shifts in waitressing every Saturday.

She wiped down a couple of tables as the band set up to play, Eugene stuck around for one song before bidding Helga goodbye. She only nodded in acknowledgement and went back to waiting tables.

At 4:30 p.m just one and a half hours shy of her shift's end, she heard the hostess set some people into her section. She finished taking drink orders from another table and setting their order's in before attending to her newest customers.

When she went up to table 12, she noticed the familiar faces of her classmates- and not ones that she liked to see together.

"Oh Helga! You work here? You're work uniform is ever so adorable." Came the sweet voice of Lila Sawyer, her companion whipped his head around at the mention of her name.

"Helga? I didn't know you worked here as well? So that's your work uniform." said Arnold Shortman as he greeted her.

'Here it goes' thought Helga, the moment she dreaded. She was currently on 'Step 3' of therapy, getting her famiily issues sorted, Arnold was 'Step 5' of her therapy program. What could she do but plaster on her fake waitress smile as her childhood obsession sat next to his childhood crush? Well she'd grin and bare it, what did Dr. Bliss tell her?

'If in doubt, live in the moment, and use these experiences as materials for your own art.'

"Hey, what can I get you guys?" Helga said, her tone forced but effective. "Do you want to know the specials for today?"

Lila looked back down at the menu and asked "Yeah, is the Caramel Macchiatto good?"

Helga nodded, still that smile on her face, "Yes, It's a favorite among the regulars." she responded.

Arnold was staring at her in a way that unnerved her, like he wanted to say something but couldn't because Lila was there. Instead he ordered.

"Just a regular Earl Grey tea for me." He said, "You never said you worked here."

"Would you like bag in or out?" She responded, "And no one asked."

"Bag out please." He answered.

"I think I will have the Caramel Macchiatto, ooh could you add a chocolate brownie to that?" Lila asked looking up at Helga in a friendly matter.

Helga nodded, taking both classmate's menus, "Sure thing, I'll have that out for you in few." She said before nodded and walking away to place their orders and see to a few other tables.

Less than ten minutes later, Arnold and Lila's orders were ready and Helga brought them to their table, overhearing their conversation.

"And so my father wanted to move us back after that..." Lila was saying.

"Well, It's a good thing you didn't stay long, that could have been worse that it was." Arnold responded, both just having an overall good time.

"Here's your Caramel Macchiato with a Choclate Brownie, and one Earl Grey tea Bag out," Helga recited as she bent down to place the order on the table. 'Will that be all?"

"Actually, why don't you join us Helga?" Arnold asked. "Unless you're busy."

"Oh Yes! Join us Helga!" Lila echoed, equally thrilled with the idea.

Helga shook her head, she did NOT want to participate in helping them get along.

"Sorry, I'm still on the clock, I don't get off till 6." Helga explained. "Plus there's my last table being sat right now." Helga said as she motioned toward the door.

Two college aged guys were sat together in the far corner, both talking amongst themselves.

"Well, can you come with us to Rhonda's party on Monday, for Labor day?" Lila asked, cutting to the chase.

"Um, I don't think so, I have plans that day anyway."Helga lied. Arnold saw through it.

"Well come crash it, we can make a big scene and wouldn't Rhonda just hate that?" He inquired. Wait. What was up with him? He never offered to do something that was rude or bad.

Helga shook her head again, "No thanks, I've had enough drama last year- I'm not trying to make waves this year."

"Well alright, but if you are sure- we'd like it ever so much if you could make it." Lila said as she paid her half of the bill, Arnold pulling out change for his tea.

So, this wasn't a date- or Arnold was terrible at these things.

Helga couldn't deny that she felt a bit of hope that she may be right in that thought.

"Thank you for coming to Cafe Aut Latte, I hope to see you again." Helga said as she closed out their tab, walking away to attend her last table of the day.

Arnold and Lila walked out of the cafe, not before seeing Arnold turn around and bid Helga goodbye, she coldly nodded in response.

* * *

7:00 p.m

Helga walked out of the cafe, dressed in yoga pants and a t-shirt with her work clothes in a small bag over her shoulder. "Goodbye Mrs. Gunt, I'll see you on Tuesday!" Helga called back and stepped out on the cooling September night air. Fall was just around the corner as the end of the summer was nearly gone.

"There you are!" came a voice behind her, she swung around and there stood Gerald Johanssen, dressed in nice clothes and waving her down. "Hey, I wanted to chat with you for a minute.

"Hey Gerald, what's up?" Helga asked pleasantly, Gerald was always welcome company.

"Was on my way to see Phoebe, but wanted to see you before you disappear into the unknown for the rest of the weekend." Gerald said.

"Yeah, well now you've seen me. Please alert the National Geographic of a single white female teenager, that's NOT partying this weekend." She said as she readjusted her bag on her shoulder.

"Oh come on! Please come to the party? Phoebe wants you there, Arnold wants you there, Lila wants you there- I really don't care what you do..." Gerald explained.

"Well you sell it so well.." Helga said sarcastically.

"If not for you, do it for me? I mean Rhonda's party music sucks, and with you, Phoebe, and I- we could crash it and do a repeat of her 7th grade end of summer party!" Gerald said, trying to convince her.

"Why? I'm busy with the song recording and Lacrosse practice, I don't have time..." She continued but was interrupted.

"Won't hear it. Besides there are others who want you there." Gerald said cryptically.

"I'll think about it." She said, walking off.

"I'll see you Monday!" Gerald called. Helga just waved her hands without looking back.

* * *

Sunday

"Look at this Miriam, Sally's Surplus has been slapped with racketeering." Bob said as he had his feet propped up on the recliner, his holy station every Sunday.

"Uh, Bob have you see n my Hot sauce?" Miriam asked from the kitchen as she rummaged around for it.

"Where ever you left it last, Miriam. Look there's a sale on tires in..." He was drowned out by Helga's stereo system upstairs.

She laid upon her bedroom floor, listening to her music as she pumped out lyrics and poems that Sunday Morning.

"TURN THAT RACKET DOWN!" Bob yelled, but was ignored. Still she wrote down what came to her:

 _"Never took your side,_  
 _Never cursed your name_  
 _I keep my lips shut tight"_

She wrote down some more, an invisible tune in her mind as she imagined every octave in her head.

 _'I'm in misery where you can seem as old as your omens_  
 _And the mother we share will never keep your proud head from falling_  
 _The way is long but you can make it easy on me'_

But she was cut short, with Bob banging on her bedroom door. "TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN NOW GIRL OR SO HELP ME!"

She reached over to her stereo and pushed the 'off' button, knowing she wasn't going to find any inspiration here. She shut her pink notebook in irritation, when was the deadline again?

Helga reached over and looked over the information she had printed out last week. It was a scholarship for songwriters, anyone who had a studio use their lyrics was offered a $1,600 scholarship in return. Sure it wouldn't cover all her expenses to Hopkins but it was a start. She needed to submit at least three, she figured, to stand a chance for a studio picking one up.

One song was done and nearly finished recording, but two more remained.

Helga got up, finished getting dressed and decided she had a better chance at finishing outside the Pataki residence.

She stepped outside on that Sunday morning and made her way toward Hillwood Park, headphones and pink notebook in hand.

There were people about, boys racing motorboat models, kids flying kites and couples having picnics. She laid in the lush green grass with her headphones in as she wrote down anything that went to mind as she basked in her own world. She noticed that the sun that was once beaming down on her was blocked by a figure that made it's way infront of her.

Helga looked up, took off her headphones and stared up at the figure infront of her, before she noticed who it was she growled out, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah! You could come to the Labor day party tomorrow." said Arnold Shortman with a baseball mit in hand.

Helga lifted her hands to shade her eyes as she looked up to see his face.

"Whatcha doing?" Arnold asked, sitting down next to her.

"Nothing, just writing." Helga answered as she pushed up from her position of lying on her stomach.

"Can I read it?" Arnold asked, curious.

"NO." Helga snapped, she hated sharing unfinished work.

"Okay, okay. No need to get hostile." He reassured her. "So are you going to the lake party tomorrow, or not?" he asked again.

"I said I'd think about it." Helga answered. She didn't feel like conversing with him right now.

"Well, I'd like to know." Arnold said. "It would be good for you."

"ARNOLD! COME ON! LET'S PLAY!" yelled Gerald from across the field, Stinky and Sid nearby. As soon as Gerald spotted Helga he shook his head and waved his hands in the air in exasperation.

Helga looked toward them, "You're friends are waiting, so go play. " she said as she packed her bag.

"So will you?" Arnold asked again. He looked at her for a long moment before Helga huffed.

"Fine, I'll go." She relented.

"Great! I'll see you there!" Arnold said as he ran off towards his friends.

"I'll show up for a minute, Football head!" Helga yelled back, but he was too far gone.

"Well so much for a peaceful weekend." Helga mused to herself.

* * *

Labor Day

"You look great, Helga." said Phoebe Heyerdhal who was dressed in a pretty blue sundress.

"I'm only showing up before Rhonda finds out." Helga said as she fixed her eyeliner in the mirror. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"Well, it's still good that you get out and about, and WITHOUT your Lacrosse team." Phoebe said as she applied some Chap stick.

"Do I have to go?" Helga asked once more.

"YES! Because I want you there and it'll be good for you." her best friend said.

Helga looked at herself in the mirror, she hated apply makeup so that her classmates could see. But if anyone who didn't know Helga- had seen how she looked now, They would have thought she was a Teen Magazine Model. Simple foundation and a clean sweep of eyeliner did wonders to her, but Helga still hated to acknowledge her own femininity. She wore tights, boots and a short dress, with her hair up in it's ballet bun.

"I'm not doing a band segment." Helga said.

"But Gerald wants us to perform."

"I'm NOT doing a band segment, Peapod kid's party had the punch spiked and that's the only reason I went along with it that other time." She said.

"Well let's hope someone spikes the punch again!" Phoebe said, "Everyone loved it last time."

"Let's just get this over with" Helga replied, motioning for them to go.

The took the subway and a bus fare to get to Rhonda's Lake Party, atleast 100 students had gotten the invitation. The lake was crowded, so it was a good chance that Helga could stay a bit before Rhonda found out. Phoebe spied Gerald and dragged Helga behind her as they made their way to greet him.

"Gerald! Look who I got to come!" Phoebe chirped, as she dragged Helga and pulled her infront, to display her victory.

"Hey Tall hair Boy." Helga greeted, Gerald just smiled and gave a nod before taking Phoebe under his arm, "Good to see you showed up!"

Arnold and Lila were a few feet away, the former noticed the commotion and signaled for the rest of the group to come over.

"Hey Helga, glad you made it." Arnold said, greeting her with a genuine smile. She mimicked one back.

"Oh Helga, You look great!" Lila said as she butted in, and unwelcome sight in Helga's opinion. She still felt very inferior to Lila's looks.

"Gosh Helga, you looks prettier than a May flower in December." said Stinky, pushing threw and for the first time, shoving Sid aside so his friend couldn't interrupt him.

"Uh, thanks." was all Helga could muster.

"Really Helga, you look very pretty tonight." Arnold said.

"Still not comfortable with flattery, Arnoldo." Helga said.

"You were okay with Stinky complimenting you." Arnold pointed out. Helga shrugged.

"He doesn't really count, I can't tell if he's serious or being ironic." she responded.

Arnold laughed, "Well save me a dance when you have time!" he said before going off to mingle with some other classmates.

Helga went to go find Phoebe, but found her flirting and nearly making out with Gerald. She decided not to interrupt them and made her way around.

"What are you doing here?" came a voice from behind her.

"Hello Rhonda." Helga said, before turning around.

"You were not invited." Rhonda said, without her gaggle of girls.

"Neither was a third of this party." Helga pointed out. Looking around to see if anyone noticed this encounter.

"Well, what makes you think YOU have the right be here?" Rhonda asked.

"The Right of free assembly? State grounds?" Helga listed off sarcastically."Do you really want to do this now?"

"I have no idea what you mean, Helga." Rhonda said.

"Yes you do. You make a notch everytime you dodge a potential settlement." Helga pointed out.

There was a commotion in the far end of the party, hoops and holllers were made as Rhonda and Helga's tense confrontation was shifted.

Both looked at each other and made a motion to see what all the excitement was about.

Rhonda and Helga made their way towards the root of it, only for them both to witness Arnold and Lila Lip locked in some game.

In that moment, all the walls that Helga had built had crashed down, it was like her heart was being split in two.

Helga stared at the scene infront of her for a minute before tearing herself away from it, just shy of seeing Arnold pushing Lila back and supporting his now punch drunk friend.

Rhonda stood there, and for the first time in her life she felt sympathy toward her enemy. After making sure Lila was okay, she ran after Helga.

Helga stalked off the lake property, hoping to find a bus, taxi, or train running at this time.

"Wait!" came a feminine voice from behind her. But Helga ignored it. Carrying her coat within her hands as she waved down a taxi.

"Helga wait!" Rhonda tried again, running up to her.

"What do you want?" Helga snarled, her hair coming free from her bun and mascara haphazardly running down her face.

"Are you okay?" Rhonda asked.

"What do you care." Helga snapped, "You love this right now."

Rhonda looked down at the gravel for a moment before looking Helga in the eyes.

"No, I don't." She answered, but Helga brushed her off, walking toward the taxi now moving toward them.

"I'm Sorry!" Rhonda yelled. Helga stopped and looked back at her arch enemy.

"What?" Helga asked.

"I'm sorry." Rhonda said again, though Helga wasn't sure what she was apologizing for, but had a feeling it was for everything- the rumors she spread and for what Helga just witnessed.

Helga made a weak smile and nodded toward her, then opened the taxi door and slammed it closed. Her way of saying goodbye to summer.

 **END of episode 6**

 **A/N: Lyrics are "The Mother We Share" by Chvrches, they own all rights and lyrics to that song and I take no credit.**


	8. Hey Gerald

**Episode 7: Hey Gerald**

"I see it, but I don't believe it." said Gerald as he arrived at lunch on Wednesday.

"It's like watching a National Geographic special on the secret lives of girls." Stinky observed as they ate their food and watched the anomaly before them.

"This is the end of the world as we know it." Sid remarked as he took a bite of one of his chicken nuggets.

Before them, in the center of the cafeteria sat Helga and Rhonda- and well Eugene as well, who looked as if the entire thing was natural- discussing the Macbeth Play that was to take place in the next month. Both girls seemed as if they were conversing cordially, bouncing ideas back and forth and taking charge of the project while leaving Eugene behind in his own thoughts.

They weren't the only ones to take notice of this highly irregular event, more than half of the cafeteria kept stealing glances towards the trio.

"Hey Gerald, go over there and see what's up." Sid said, "You're the Film President, you're the only one in the entire cafeteria who could have reason to butt in."

"Come on guys, can't we just eat our food and move on? So they made up- there have been stranger things." Gerald said, quite exhausted over everything and anything with Helga G. Pataki. "I get enough of that from Arnold."

"Maybe it's just an obligatory meeting between Poetry, Theater, and Fashion club presidents." said Stinky, the sentence still thick in his heavy southern drawl.

"Obligatory? There you go again with your random articulate words!" Sid said, completely sidetracked now.

"Have you guys seen Arnold?" Gerald asked, noticing the time and how late in the lunch period it was- and his best friend still hadn't arrived.

"I think it was Baseball Try outs today." said Sid, "He did say was trying out for the team."

"Nah, tryouts are tomorrow." Stinky corrected, "So it can't be that."

Gerald didn't have to contemplate long before Arnold himself walked in, looking a little tired and down.

"Hey guys, sorry I got caught up in helping the coach pick up dodge balls." Arnold said as he sat down.

"You okay, man?" Gerald asked, "Not coming down with that Chinese Flu are you?"

Arnold shook his head, "After that incident on Monday, I've been trying to convince everyone that Lila and I are not dating, and that Lorenzo and Sid-" at that Arnold looked pointedly at the boy himself. "Spiked the punch that Lila drank like water."

"I'll never forget that night." Sid said dreamily. "She kissed you, me, AND Harold." Sid explained. "Though I'm sure that's why she's not been in school for the last two days."

"She's humiliated, she apologized profusely yesterday morning over the phone." Arnold explained.

"Mmm. mmm. mmm." Gerald said as he shook his head, "I have a feeling that spiked punch just brought out her repressed nature." said Gerald. "That girl is nice to a fault, and borderline flirtatious with everyone. "

"Don't talk about her like that!" Arnold interjected. Gerald looked up at him.

"Oh, now we're focused on Lila again, are we?" He asked, sarcastically.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Arnold said, defensively.

"Nothing, forget it. Are you ready for Try-outs tomorrow?"Gerald asked, desperate to change the subject.

To be honest, he was getting sick of this whole charade. He liked to think of Helga as a 'friend', she was a very powerful ally to have when it came to his field. Phoebe had said that Helga had left early that Monday, he had a sinking suspicion about the reason why. But they were only suspicions.

Lila had drank 4 cups of punch in an hour, the fruity flavor disguising the adult beverage that it was laced with. He caught the end of the show thanks to Sid who was going around bragging about it, he knew his friend didn't intend to come off as sleazy, but he did explain to Sid the error of what he did- and how bad it made the girl in question look. He tried to retain some decency in Sid, but it was almost a losing battle.

"Yeah, I've been a bit distracted lately, so I'll be going to Gerald Field after school to practice, want to join?" Arnold asked, looking at Gerald expectantly.

Gerald had tried to keep his best friend's attention from the obvious elephant in the room, but it was for naught since Arnold had to follow the odd behavior from the rest of the student body.

"Is that Helga and Rhonda?" He asked, taking in the scene before him, just as they did before.

"Yep." All three answered him.

"And they're talking normally?"asked Arnold.

"Yep." came all three again.

"When did that happen?"

And all three of them shrugged their shoulders in sync with each other.

"I'm gonna go see what's going on." Arnold said as he got up to walk toward the other trio.

"Wait! It's a club meeting, you'll just be in their way." Gerald said, as he tried to prevent his friend from interfering with the natural process of things.

"I'm just going to say hi." Arnold answered, unrelenting.

"Whatever you say, buddy." Gerald answered, letting his friend go.

Sid, Stinky, and Gerald looked on as Arnold walked toward the table- unknown to him that he had half of the eyes of the cafeteria on him.

They could see Arnold exchanging pleasantries to the three of them, they responded in kind, one a bit colder than the others. He made another comment before Rhonda smiled and nodded her head, she was explaining their meeting at the moment. Helga interjected with a poker face to win the series, and her words seem to be telling Arnold what Gerald already knew- he was butting in and they were busy.

Arnold nodded his head, scratching his head like he usually did when he was nervous. A few more words exchanged before Arnold made his way back.

"Well?" Gerald asked.

"It seems Helga is in a bad mood, but Rhonda said they were going over Theater business." Arnold explained.

"See, you didn't need to intervene, they worked themselves out." Gerald said, as he finished his lunch.

"Yeah, I guess you were right." Arnold said, as he took one more glance toward the other group in question.

"Now about baseball?" Arnold asked again, "Can you come?"

Gerald shook his head, "No can do, I've got meet with Helga after school to finish up one of her side projects.

"Oh, mind if I come too?" Arnold asked, Gerald rolled his eyes, careful that his friend didn't see.

"What about baseball?"

"Oh yeah." replied Arnold.

"You should practice, don't want to miss out on making the team." Gerald reassured him, hoping this would drop the subject.

* * *

 **After school**

Gerald made his way toward Hillwood Records, the corner music store off of Broad Street. Outside were Phoebe and Helga, the former waved at him gleefully which he responded with just as much enthusiasm.

"Hey! I didn't know you'd be here." Gerald said as Phoebe hugged him.

"Helga invited me! I wanted to see how the recording went." Phoebe said. Gerald looked at Helga in confusion, normally she was all about business- today she seemed distracted.

"I brought her along because you'll be needing some support, I'm not very good at motivating people and today's kind of a big day." Helga explained.

Oh, so she brought Phoebe along to soften the demanding dictatorship she was about to lay out during the recording.

"The musician's inside, the owner has agreed to let us use the recording studio in the back for two hours." said Helga, "So let's hurry up, I don't want to run out of time." she motioned for all three of them to go inside.

Helga trotted inside, leaving Phoebe and Gerald outside.

"Sorry, should I not have come?" Phoebe asked. Gerald shook his head in objection, "No that's not it."

"So...I guess Helga and Rhonda are friends again, but why is she still in a foul mood?" Gerald asked, for the first time in a long time he was genuinely curious about Helga.

Phoebe shrugged, "Well 'friends' is a bit too strong, they're civil now- and her temperament is something else entirely. Helga's a complicated person." she explained.

"Lucky she has you to figure her out." Gerald teased, putting his arm around her and lead them inside before the subject of their conversation came looking for them.

The store was cluttered with old vinyl records, cds, and the occasional cassette tape. It wasn't a high end place by any means, but it was the only place in town willing to let a couple of 15-year olds record a song.

The musician that Helga had chosen was local, he had done a lot of events around the city and was willing to help them for no fee other than it would give him potential recognition at a studio.

Phoebe watched in delight on the other side of the room as her boyfriend and best friend worked. Gerald had always told her that working with Helga was tiresome, but she was also the most dedicated and through her headstrong nature- some pretty amazing results were made. Everyone was talking for weeks when Helga first took on the role as President and helped the Theater club bring the other Fashion, Photography, and Film clubs together to pull off the most elaborate Romeo and Juliet Play the school had ever seen. A song recording was a walk in the park for Helga, but she still showed the same dedication in those two hours as she did the entire three weeks of that play.

Gerald had mentioned to Phoebe also, that if Helga were to pursue a career, Art Director was a shoe in. Phoebe mentioned the idea to Helga, who seemed taken with it but still wanted to pursue creative writing before taking on such a responsible role.

Gerald listened and nodded intently, biting back the comments he wanted to say in his head as he worked diligently with the audio controls. Once the song was finally finished, Gerald knew he still had long hours of editing to go, but at least the hard part was over.

"Thank you so much, for lending us your voice." out came the polite young lady that Helga procured.

"Thank you, little lady. This was a treat for me as well." the musician said, nodding to all of them. "Just send me a copy of the song when you finish."

Gerald too, gave his thanks and helped pack their stuff up when he heard his name.

"Gerald, is that you?" said Sid, as he spotted his friend within the record shop.

"What are you guys doing here?" he questioned, as Phoebe and Helga came out from the back.

"Ah, just finished up on a project." Gerald said motioning toward his dufflebag of audio equipment.

"We're going to go on ahead, okay?" Phoebe said to Gerald, who nodded and said goodbye to the girls as they left the store.

"So, what kind of project?" asked Sid, as he continued to look through the mountain of music.

"Just some stuff Helga is doing. I'm helping her out."

The bell on the door rang twice as two more of his friends filed in, Stinky and Arnold who both had baseball mits.

"Hey Gerald! Are you finished with your club stuff today?" Arnold asked, "Uh, did you need a hand with that?"

Arnold motioned toward Gerald's heavy duffle bag, he rearranged the strap over his shoulder before replying.

"Yeah we just finished, and I'll be good- I was on my home, I still have a lot of editing to do, so I'll see you guys at school tomorrow." Gerald said as made his way toward the door, "Oh and good luck on your Try Outs tomorrow! I'll be in the bleachers cheering you on!"

* * *

 **Thursday**

Gerald skipped his Health class that morning so he could watch Arnold's Try outs. Several familiar faces were seen upon the field, he could spot Park and another old classmate in line.

On the other side of the field he could see the Lacrosse team practicing for their game the next day, 'ooh' still brutal as ever', he thought as he watched Pataki on offense.

"Arnold Shortman!" yelled Coach Tish as Arnold went up to bat.

Overall his try outs were very strong, by the end of the hour Coach Tish had said she would post the names of the ones who made it by the end of the day on the gym board.

Arnold walked over to him, sweaty but in good spirits.

"You were great, man!" Gerald said as they did their usual secret handshake.

"Thanks, I really think that went well." Arnold said, wiping his forehead with a towel.

Just then, a rubber ball flew inbetween the two boys- taking them surprise and shock.

"Sorry! Could you toss it back?" asked a Lacrosse player.

"Careful where you throw that thing!" Gerald yelled back, putting everything he had into the throw to make his point- but the other girl caught it with little hesitation.

"Work on your hustle PATAKI! I don't want anymore balls leaving the field!" Coach Wittenburg yelled. It seemed Helga was having an off day.

"You don't think she meant to throw that at us?" Asked Arnold.

Gerald thought for a second, "You maybe, Me not so much."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Arnold asked, but Gerald started walking toward the cafeteria for lunch.

* * *

 **Lunch**

"Still no Lila today?" asked Stinky as they sat at their usual table.

Arnold and Gerald shook their heads, "I think she's still pretty embarrassed, and the rumors going around don't help."

Gerald didn't comment. Day in and day out, it was either Lila or Helga and quite frankly he was getting really annoyed at his best friend for his unintentional callousness.

"Can we talk about something that doesn't have Lila, Helga, or Rhonda in it?" Gerald asked, working himself up.

"How bout we all go'n see that new Evil Twin III movie?" Stinky said, willing to concede.

"Yeah, I heard the reviews from that are pretty good." commented Sid as he spotted a cute girl from across the cafeteria.

"We can all go this weekend." Arnold offered.

"I'll get on board with that." said Gerald, finally happy that his weekend was going to be a guys night and stress free.

"Oh, but I was going to go to Helga's first Lacrosse game tomorrow night." Arnold said.

Gerald just let his head fall to the table in exasperation.

* * *

 **Calculus**

Olga was lecturing about some formula, Helga was passed out in the back, Rhonda was too busy texting, and Arnold seemed still a bit out of it like he was the other day. Gerald would turn around and ask his best friend something, only to catch him leaning back and looking at their passed out classmate.

"Hey man" Gerald whispered, getting Arnold's attention as he snapped his eyes forward, "Do you have pen? I left mine in the cafeteria."

Arnold nodded and bent down to rummage through his backpack, giving Gerald a good view of Helga.

She was laying her head directly on the desk, a bit of drool was forming- it was nearly comical. Phoebe did say her friend had sat up most of the night to come up with another set of lyrics. It puzzled him as to why she was all of a sudden a songwriter but it wasn't his business.

"Here you go." Arnold said as he sat back up, and blocked her from view again.

"Oh thanks." Gerald said, turning back around.

This caused Olga to look their way, and notice her little sister snoozing through her lesson.

Olga walked over, the entire class now focusing on the teacher and her passed out student.

"HELGA!" Olga yelled, "This is not nap time!"

"What!" Helga yelled as she snapped up, wiped the bit of drool off her face and looked around.

"It's not my fault if you stay up till 3 a.m, little lady." Olga pointed out. "Helga what was the answer to the last problem?" for once trying to make an example out of her sister.

"42." Helga said automatically.

"So you were paying attention." Olga stated.

"Wait, that's right?" Helga asked, astonished. "I just pulled that out of thin air." she said laughing at the coincidence, causing the rest of the class to chuckle.

"You know what this means, right?" Olga said, trying to maintain her stern expression.

"I should start doing hotlines?" Helga retorted.

"You can march your smart mouth down to the guidance counselor!" Olga about yelled, pointing her finger toward the door.

Helga shrugged, picked up her bag and tossed it over her shoulder. "Haven't seen Dr. Bliss in a while, so why not?" Helga said as she casually walked out the door.

"Now back to our lesson..." Olga said as the rest of the class continued.

* * *

 **After School**

Gerald was on his way up to the office to check in the school's audio equipment when he spotted Curly walking down the hallway. Gerald had made it a point to keep Curly at a distance, the boy was insane.

His suspicions were rewarded when Curly opened a janitor's closet looked around, and went inside. A part of him said, 'keep going, don't ask.' and the other part was always dangerously curious when it came to Curly.

"Uh..Curly?" Gerald asked as he awkwardly knocked on the janitor's door. He heard weird chirping sounds inside.

The door cracked open a bit, "What do you want?"he asked, suspiciously.

"Uh, what are you doing. In a closet?" he asked.

Curly peeked outside, and looked around him. "Promise you want say nothing?" he asked.

"I'm not sure if I want to stand here anymore." Gerald said, raising his eyebrow.

"I'm devising a plan to set barn animals free throughout the school...I've got six chickens in here..."

Gerald shook his head and walked off.

He arrived at the front office to see Helga leaving Dr. Bliss's office.

"...and remember Helga, you don't have to be in control all the time." Dr. Bliss said as she followed her out.

"Thanks Doc." Helga said. "I'll schedule a meeting with you again after my game."

Helga spotted Gerald as she was walking out, and he could have sworn there was a tint of a red on her cheeks.

Everyone knew Helga was seeing a Therapist, one of the many rumors before, took it as a negative thing- when in reality to him and all of those who knew her before- it was something the girl needed. He guessed she was embarrassed that he caught her after one of them.

She nodded toward him in greeting before exiting.

"Hello Mr. Johanssen, what can I do for you?" Dr. Bliss asked.

"Just came to return some equipment." Gerald said, motioning toward his bag.

"Aw yes, Mr. Tildon is in the back, he can help you with that."

* * *

 **Slausen's**

"What's got you so worked up that you had to call me six times?" Gerald asked as he sat down infront of his best friend.

The minute Gerald had gotten home, his mother had said Arnold called him repeatedly. When he called back, Arnold was rushed and he could barely make out what his friend was saying, and they agreed to meet up and chat.

"I got home today and Lila was outside my door." Arnold said.

"So? What's the problem. You like Lila, right?" Gerald asked and was already tired, as he knew exactly where this conversation was going.

"I do, but as a friend. The thing is though, she's convinced she should switch schools because of that Labor Day incident." Arnold explained.

"So let the girl switch schools." said Gerald, quite glib. "Her embarrassment is not your problem."

"But I don't want her to, and I feel bad about the party thing." said Arnold, sighing and taking a sip from his soda.

"Look, you wanted to butt into Rhonda and Helga's feud, and that worked itself out- I'm telling you man, stop getting into other people's problems."

"But I still think Rhonda and Helga have a bit of ways to go.."Arnold said, "And I'm still conflicted over this whole kiss thing with Lila."

"Helga's paying a therapist for that!" Gerald practically yelled, nearly fed up with his best friend's denial. "Do you realize that you are hurting people with your unintentional callousness!"

"What do you...I'm not being callous." Arnold said, defensive.

"Yes, you are. Believe it or not but you tossing Helga and Lila back and forth under some excuse that you're 'only helping', can hurt them." Gerald explained, still angry.

"I don't mea..."

"You don't mean to be, but this is apart of growing up! Realize that you paying attention to one girl then switching back and forth when the other one comes into the picture...is...is...wrong." said Gerald, trying to make a point to his friend.

"Helga doesn't..."

"Please! A girl who throws spit balls at you everyday and picks on YOU in particular for five years, had SOME feelings for you, I'm not even going to TOUCH that kiss I witnessed in San Lorenzo." he was caught up in the moment now, and stood up from the table and looked down at Arnold.

"We're not 9 anymore, the things we do and say HAVE an effect. So which is it Arnold? You may be in denial, You may say it to yourself but refuse to acknowledge it to me, but I can see it clear as day. And until you figure it out for yourself..." At that he stumbled, and knew that it was for the best for his best friend.

"Then I don't want to see you."

 **End of Episode 6**


	9. Author's Note: To the Readers

Author's Note: To Address some Preconceived Notions

Hello Readers!

I just wanted to say that this is NOT an Arnold and Lila story, I've spent more time in developing Helga's character and Lila is a bit boring to me. Oh the strife! I'm not a fan of the equation: Character A falls for B at first sight, the dance around, they get together, everything is all happy.

I made the characters in the story 15 for a reason, they have so much growing up to do. Arnold has admitted to himself that he may like Helga, but is confused as all 15 year old boys are. Gerald sees it as it is and is fed up with Arnold wanting to fix everyone else's problems but his own- Helga represents a change for Arnold, Lila represents things staying the same.

Arnold is afraid of change.

The next two chapters will clear up the Lila commotion, but it also will focus on Arnold accepting 'Change', that's the root of the story. So Thank you for reading my fellow reviewers! I appreciate your feedback, good and bad, and wanted to let you know that I'm happy my story is inciting some feelings of frustration- that's the same frustration Gerald is feeling right now.

But if you Read on- you might like where it goes!

Thanks!

Daisy-Snicket.


	10. The Game, Part 1

**Episode 8: The Game**

 **Part 1**

Arnold walked home that night feeling a hopeless confusion. He wasn't angry at Gerald for acting the way he had, he was more surprised at himself because he knew his friend was right. They were not 9 anymore, the things he did DID affect others, whether he intended to or not.

Arnold walked up the steps of Sunset Arms, the streetlights buzzing on and a few cats and dogs ran out of the building as he opened the door.

"I'm Home!" He yelled to no one in particular.

"Oh, there you are!" came his mother's voice, "I'm making borsch for dinner!"

"Is that you Arnold?" he heard his father from the lounge. Arnold peeked his head inside and saw his father and grandfather sitting on the couch- one reading the newspaper the other a book.

"Hey dad, hey grandpa." Arnold said in a monotonous voice, sinking down right in the center.

"What's eating ya, short man?" his grandfather asked.

"Girls." Arnold sighed out.

"Girls? Do we need to have...the talk." His father asked, feeling uncomfortable as he looked down at his son.

Arnold shook his head profusly. "Grandpa beat you to that."

Miles looked at his father skeptically, Phil shrugged his shoulders and was biting back laughter.

"It didn't start with the 'Birds and the Seas?' did it?" Miles asked.

"Actually, yeah it did..."

"Yeah, remind me to give you the correct version of that explanation." his father said, putting his book down.

"So, what about girls?" Miles asked.

"I like one, and I used to like the other, the old crush came back and I felt like things would go back to the way it was. Me liking the old crush again, and then I wouldn't have to worry about anything changing with the other girl. And it's ruined my friendship with Gerald and now it seems like I may lose my friendship with both of them as well..."

"That's some afternoon soap opera you got there, short man." his grandfather said, shaking his head.

"Well, it seems that the real problem isn't your old childhood crush, but you are scared of the feelings you are developing with the other girl." His father said, as he spoke his thoughts aloud.

"You should be honest with yourself, don't force yourself to like her for the sake of trying to get rid of liking another person. That's a pretty outlandish thing to do. You can't help who you fall in love with, trying to take control of that is fruitless!" said Miles.

"Dinner is ready!" came his mother as she popped into view around the corner, "You boys come eat."

* * *

Thursday Night

Arnold stared at the cloudless sky from his bed, the moon above giving the only light through his windowed roof. He sat and thought about what his father said, about what Gerald had said earlier, and about his own feelings.

When Lila had come over to apologize yet again and tell him of her school switching, Arnold had wanted to help her but the whole kissing thing made things...awkward.

 _Flashback_

 _"I'm so, so very sorry, Arnold." Lila said, nearly pleaded. It was obvious she had been crying._

 _"It's alright, you didn't know that the punch was spiked." Arnold reassured her, "I've been trying to tell people that it was all an accident."_

 _"Oh! I'm so embarrassed!" She covered her face with her hands. "I can't face the entire school, I've heard what the 11th graders have been saying..." she lifted her face and looked at him, eyes watering._

 _"I think I'm going to switch schools, Arnold."_

 _"Really!? I mean you can just explain what happened yourself, Sid and Harold didn't say anything...well Harold didn't say anything." Arnold corrected._

 _"I just wanted to come and apologize again..."_

 _End Flashback_

He had called Gerald after that, desperate to unload his burdens- now he knew it was unfair to push his problem onto his friend while trying to take care of someone else's. If Lila wanted to switch schools because of rumors, it was her right, he didn't have any say in the matter. But to give up so easily after one mistake and perhaps the biggest fear Arnold felt, was the breaking of his deluded version of Lila Sawyer, and seeing the real person she was- and realizing that she was not the girl he used to know despite the mask she seemed to wear, or perhaps he never knew her at all.

Then there was Helga, she had changed so much since he had went away. She was coping with her family issues, seeing a therapist, working through her problems and correcting her bad behavior, will most of it- while still trying to find herself in the process through her own hobbies. Arnold had flinched when Gerald had thrown 'denial' in his face, because in truth, he was. He was forcing himself in denial so that he could stop any start of liking Helga.

But did she like him still? She wasn't the easiest girl to get to know, she never had been. She saved her affections, laughs, and true kindness to those who really mattered to her. This was something he semi-saw when he was 9, but at 15 it was obvious when he looked back.

It was time to let the idealism and stubbornness of the unchanging symbolism of Lila Sawyer go, and accept the change that he, Arnold Shortman- did in fact like Helga G. Pataki and tomorrow he would start to act on it.

* * *

Homeroom Friday- Lacrosse Game Day

"Good morning Arnold!" greeted Mr. Simmons as Arnold walked in, he noticed that Gerald hadn't arrived yet. He walked over to his desk and said hello to Sid and Stinky, who were excited to see the new Evil Twin III movie.

"So Arnold, ya coming tonight?" Stinky asked. Arnold shook his head.

"Nah, I'll make it up to you, I have plans." he answered as he sat down.

"What could be better than a guys night?" Sid asked, bummed that he wasn't joining them.

"The same thing that you seem to find better, girls." Gerald stated as he walked up and sat on the other end, far away from Arnold.

Mr. Simmons called Homeroom, Lila Sawyer's name was left off the roster.

* * *

GYM

For once, Arnold had managed to speak with Harold during gym class. He hadn't spoken to his hefty classmate since the Labor Day Party.

"Yeah, as soon as I realized she was kissing me- I had to shove her away as soon as I could." Harold explained, also a recipient of Lila's lack of discretion that night.

Arnold shook his head, "Well at least you weren't bragging about it like Sid was." said Arnold.

"Patty would kill me! I had to convince her that it was all a misunderstanding to save the other poor girl from a serious pounding." Harold explained, eating a Mr. Fudgey bar.

"Oh well, I heard she transferred again so I guess it's a blessing- Patty's still mad about it."

"So you and Patty are dating?" Arnold asked, looking across the field as the Lacrosse team practiced ruthlessly before their first game. He could see Helga running around like a Spartan, more aggressive than ever.

"Yeah, we started dating two years ago. It's nice, she's nice." said Harold.

"How did you handle being friends and then being more than friends?" Arnold asked.

Harold, bless his poor soul, had to sit for a minute to think about the question, he wasn't used to being asked such serious questions.

"Hmm..Well it was weird at first, but the more I hung out with her...the more..natural it was." He tried to articulate.

Arnold nodded while looking at the field, he was usually the one giving advice to Harold not taking it, but Harold probably didn't realize that's the reason Arnold asked.

They both winced when they observed how intense some of the offensive players were being to their _own_ B players, it was a wonder how they would be against their opponents. The Girl's Lacrosse Team were not frail little girls, they could- run, jump, tackle, and hit with the best of them.

Arnold could see how a game like this, could mellow out a girl like Helga.

* * *

Lunch

When lunch came, Arnold noticed Gerald get up and bid the guys bye when Arnold came and walk past Arnold, out of the cafeteria.

"Are you n' Gerald fighting?" Stinky asked, "I got curious on account of him ignoring you all day."

"It's nothing, Gerald's just busy." Sid said.

Arnold at least was happy that Gerald would keep their business from Sid and Stinky, he was truly grateful. It let Arnold know that despite their fight, Gerald still considered Arnold a friend.

"Have you seen Eugene?" interjected Rhonda Wellington Lloyd, she sounded less snobbish and more of the old Rhonda they knew. "I need to discuss the play with him."

The boys shook their heads.

"Hmph! I told him to meet me here at lunch, Helga can't meet because of extra practice and we need to finalize the costumes!" Rhonda rattled off, clearly exasperated, she turned toward the boys and it seemed an idea had gone through her mind as she said "aha".

"You guys can help me with the costumes! I need male models to help with the fittings." She said as she looked over all three of them, like a mad scientist staring down upon her experiments. Anyone except the three boys, would have found the scene comical.

"Oh no! Don't look at me!" Sid said, "I can't get girls while were those ridiculous costumes!"

"Sid, you couldn't get 'girls' if you were carrying kittens." Rhonda deadpanned.

"I'm alright with it, I reckon I'll look snazzy in some fancy clothes." said Stinky.

"Uh, gee I don't think I have the time Rhonda." Arnold said, "I'm on the baseball team, and practice starts up soon."

"Well, Stinky meet me in the Fashion club room for the next three lunch period starting tomorrow." Rhonda said, as if assigning an assistant a chore- and she walked off.

At that moment, the door burst open and a freshman yelled excitedly into the cafeteria,

"Oh man! There's a kid that got hit by a dodgeball, stumbled in the road, nearly got hit by a car- only to land straight into the fountain! It was Awesome!"

"There's Eugene." All three said unanimously.

Phoebe side stepped through the door, past the handful of people who were running to see the scene.

"Oh Hey Arnold!" She waved happily, "May I sit with you? Helga's at practice and I'm not sure where Gerald is."

"Of course, you can sit with us." Arnold answered, moving his bag for her to take the seat next to him.

"Oh such a busy day, with a Physics test, a band meet, and Helga's game tonight- I'm already overwhelmed!" Phoebe said with a cheery voice, that showed that she actually enjoyed it.

"I forgot the first Lacrosse game was tonight." Stinky asked, "Is that where you're going Arnold?"

Phoebe looked at Arnold with surprise, "Oh? Are you coming to Helga's game, too?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah. I hope she doesn't mind." Arnold said.

"Of course not! I'm sure Helga would be happy if you came." said Phoebe. "In fact, you can sit with me and we can cheer her on together."

* * *

Calculus

Arnold knew that he needed to make apologizing to his best friend his next priority, but Gerald was now moved on the opposite side of the room when he arrive to Olga's class.

He sat down and stole glances towards Gerald's direction, his friend gazing steadily ahead.

The bell nearly finished ringing when Rhonda and Helga made a mad dash through the door. Each girl taking their seat in front and behind him, but this time Helga sat in the front and Rhonda sat behind him.

The sight of Helga sitting front row in her own sister's class was a strange site. Olga looked at her sister and smiled delightfully, believing that her sister was finally taking her class seriously.

"Well class, for today's lesson we'll be learning about the..." Arnold drowned out Olga's voice as he stared at the girl in front of him. He noticed she was wearing her hair in two braids today, her hair parted the same way she used to when she wore her high pigtails in elementary school.

He then was alarmed when Helga raised her hand politely to answer a question, it boggled everyone- including Olga.

"Y..YYes..Helga!" Olga called.

"It's 34.4" she said, without attitude or complaint.

"That's correct." said Olga, and she shook her head from her own shock and continued to the next problem.

"Wow, Helga you seem to be in a good mood today." Arnold said. "You've been awake the entire class period."

"Don't get too excited Arnoldo, I'm on probation from the principal- if I act out anymore they'll keep me off tonight's game, and every game after it." Helga said without looking behind her.

Arnold had to laugh at that, go figure Helga would need to be bribed in order to behave. He laughed a little too hard when a few classmates looked his way.

Arnold ducked his head down. He could feel Gerald staring at him from across the room.

"So you're coming to the game?" Helga asked, not looking back but leaning her head back a bit so he could hear.

"Y..yeah, I wanted to see your first game." Arnold said, trying to express how sincere he was toward her.

"You can do whatever you want, Football head." She said, no longer caring to use his old nickname, she appeared mad now.

"Well, I want to see your Lacrosse game." He said again, he couldn't see her face but he could see the tips of her ears were flushed.

He looked over and saw Gerald staring at him, he noticed his friend didn't look mad at him but rather impatient- like he was waiting for Arnold to do something.

* * *

The Game

Arnold made his way towards the lacrosse field, about a third of the school seemed to be present, not a bad turnout for the first game. He looked along the bleachers and after five minutes found Phoebe waving toward him.

"Arnold! Good, you came!" She said as she greeted him. Phoebe was still the same cheery friend that was loyal to her moody counterpart. It would often baffle Arnold how Phoebe could stand Helga the entire time they were 9, but he saw that Helga was rather different when it was just her and Phoebe. Arnold couldn't help but feel a little alienated that Helga was not as cordial with everyone EXCEPT him.

He sat next to her and looked around, trying to spot any other Pataki in attendance.

"Helga was so nervous today, she's been under a lot of duress lately and if tonight's game goes smoothly she can finally relax." explained Phoebe for no particular reason.

"Harold said she'd been playing since Junior High." Arnold commented, attempting to learn more from the best friend herself.

Phoebe nodded, "Yes, she's been trying to work on her aggression for a while now, she keeps herself busy with this sport, poetry, and her own side projects that I worry for her sometimes." she gave off a matronly aura whenever she referred to Helga.

"Well you're pretty busy yourself, I hear." said Arnold, Phoebe shrugged, she never minded all the work.

"I'll have much more responsibilities when I become a surgeon, so why worry?" She said, and to Arnold it wouldn't surprise him that this would be a sure thing.

"I still don't know what I want to pursue." Arnold confided.

"Oh, we have plenty of time! I just like to have a plan, Helga seems to have one- but she doesn't seem to trust me with it just yet." Phoebe said, sightly sad.

Arnold recalled the time Helga had told him she had been accepted into a college already. He nearly forgot! The weight of that accomplishment washed over him, it made him really curious to see her writing work that earned her so much praise. He could vaguely remember catching the young Helga spouting off some form of poem, but he could never truly make out what she was saying or doing.

"Um, the games about to start, where are Helga's parents?" Arnold asked. Phoebe got quiet, and seemed a bit uncomfortable in answering such an innocent question, that held a lot of weight to it.

"Helga...doesn't tell her parent's when her games are." Phoebe explained, slowly. "Her father's very competitive, and Lacrosse is something she sees as truly _hers,_ and not..."

"Olga's." Arnold finished.

"Right." Phoebe said, back to her cheery nature.

They looked on as the players were taking the field, P.S 210 had a very good turn out as well. The field lights gave a loud "schoom" as they kicked on to illuminate the grass.

The whistle blew, and the game began.

* * *

 **END OF PART 1**


	11. The Game, Part 2

**A/N: Sorry for the month of nothing, I had to move and then the Holiday's came , and I was swamped with mounds of Marketing Projects for work. So Here's a Christmas Gift For you all:**

 **The Game Part 2**

 **Locker Room**

Helga pulled her long blonde hair up in a high ponytail and wrapped a single white ribbon around it. Game days where white ribbon days for the Lacrosse team, matching hair down to the knee high socks and white cleats.

 _One. Two. Three_

Closing her eyes inside the locker room, surrounded by her teammates- Helga fell into her pre-game ritual.

 _One. Two. Three_

Dr. Bliss had taught her a technique to use to refocus her mind when her nerves got the best of her. Close her eyes, breathe steadily, and count to three. Aggression was great at practice, she could blow off some steam, but she needed to be in a state of nirvana on game day.

The other girls were pulling on the rest of her uniforms and tying their hair up while she meditated to herself. Helga began to sway a little from side to side, listening to music within her own head. No one found this strange, all the girls knew that their Captain had her own way of getting ready for game nights- and as long as it worked they didn't question it.

 ** _'Like an overdose_**

 ** _Baby let's take it too far tonight_**

 ** _You're my favorite high_**

 ** _Ooh oooooh_**

 ** _Like an overdose_**

 ** _Thinking I'm crossing the line this time_**

 ** _Taking me for a ride '_**

She swayed a bit more to her own imaginary music and voicelessly lip syncing, after several minutes she achieved her sense of lucidity.

It was like taking an adreneline shot and a muscle relaxer at the time for her.

"Alright, are we ready girls?" Shouted Coach Wittenburg as he came into the locker room, making sure that they were dressed before he entered.

"Todays the start of the season, and I'm not going to harp and demand perfections because you girls got this in the bag." He said with confidence and pride.

"Now, Pataki I want to see some all star offense and Garcia I want the defense to be top-notch!" He looked at Helga then at an older upperclassmen standing several feet away.

"Yes Coach!" They called.

She smelled the freshly groomed grass as she stepped onto the field, the buzz of the field lights turned on as both teams positioned themselves in their respected stations.

Helga got into her position in the attack area with the other two girls of her team.

The whistle blew and the game began.

For the majority of the game, Helga was focused- keeping tabs on where her footing was, what each other member was doing. Face off after face off, the 4th finally came when she finally looked up to search for Phoebe.

She spotted her in the very front, like a beacon of a familiar face among strangers. Helga smiled broadly and gave her friend a wave, happy that she was there, she continued to look her way while wiping the sweat from her forehead when she noticed who was sitting beside her.

 _Oh._

She saw him giver her a friendly wave, but Helga's smile dropped. She didn't think the Football head was seriously coming to her game.

Helga broke her mantra, and couldn't see the Wells 35 from P.S 210 at her right flank. In less than a second she was violently tackled to the ground, the whistle blew for the foul.

She felt the grass burn some of her skin as she harshly hit the field floor, she pulled her helmet off to spit a bit of dirt from her mouth, Phoebe and Arnold's worried expression caught her eye. She felt a warm liquid drip down from her upper lip and wiped it away with the back of her hand.

Blood.

"Pataki. Out!" Cried Coach Wittenburg as he saw the crimson red on her face.

Helga scowled, and shook her head defiantly.

It was just a nosebleed, her nose wasn't broken.

Coach Wittenburg gave her a thumbs up or down gesture, signing to her if she was alright.

Helga held her hand up high with a thumbs up, put her helmet back on and went back in the game.

There were only minutes left, and the scores were too close- they could win, they could lose.

As they got into formation for the final inning, a loud maniacal laugh could be heard coming from the far left of the field.

Both teams stopped, whipping their head in the direction of the noise. There came a rather nude Thaddeus 'Curly' Gamelthorpe in nothing but cleats as he ran across the field.

"HAHAHAHA! You Pleebs and your play games! Breakaway from your puppetry!" He yelled with conviction as three campus security cops chased the pale boy across the field.

Phoebe and Arnold had their faces in their palms in shame, so they missed out on the scene that was about to play before them. They would hear it from others that when Curly ran by Helga Pataki, she intentionally swung her lacrosse stick against the back of his head like a baseball bat. Others would tell them that she roundhouse kicked him in the gut, and those that had no bias-simply stated that girl tripped the boy as he ran passed her.

Either way, when they looked up, Curly laid on the ground clutching his stomach in pain as two cops caught up to drag the boy away the plumper third cop huddled behind them.

Coach Wittenberg blew his whistle to force everyone's attention back to the game.

The last play. Helga was thankful, the distraction brought her out of her subconsciousness about Arnold, and back to the game- and to Wells 35- who currently had a target on the back of her head in Helga's vision.

 **The Bleachers**

"Well, that was unexpected." Phoebe commented as she clapped as Curly was being dragged away and the game began again.

"Somehow I'm disappointed I didn't see that coming." Arnold stated as they brought their attention back the game. "Helga got hit pretty hard, you think she's okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, She can take a punch or two." Phoebe stated, though her voice was laced with worry. "Helga's no porcelain doll."

Arnold laughed, " I don't think anyone could accuse her of THAT." he said as they watched Helga finish off the game with a legal tackle to Wells 35 and block their final shot. Making H.S 119 the Winner in the First Lacrosse Match of the season.

Cheers erupted, and the Lacrosse Team girls jumped up and down for victory.

After the game, Phoebe and Arnold waited for the crowd to clear so they could meet up with their friend- chatting in the process.

"So Arnold, how does it feel to be back in Hillwood? It must be very different from San Lorenzo." She asked.

"It was...different. It was hard to get used to the lack of technology for one, and I began to miss the old gang and my old life. Don't get me wrong, I loved and enjoyed every second of getting to know my parents and making up for the time apart- but there was always something pulling me back here." He said, then caught himself. He didn't mean to be so open and heavy with his reply.

But Phoebe was never a person to ask a question without truly wanting to know the answer, she was never insincere.

"Well it's good you are back. I know Gerald missed you, and Helga did too- though she'd pummel me before she'd admit to it. She's still working on being honest." said Phoebe.

"Yeah, I missed her too. It's funny, when we were kids she always gave me the hardest time- but she never was a bad person. It seems that she's finally opening up and being who she was afraid of being when she was little." Arnold explained.

"I'm glad to hear that. Not everyone understood Helga back then." said Phoebe. "Not many took the time to find out."

"Well I'd like to get to know her better." said Arnold, hoping that didn't sound as cheesy in his head as it did speaking out loud.

"Get to know who better?" Came a smooth alto voice, both of them whipped their head in it's direction to see Helga standing there carrying her sports bag, dressed in a track suit.

"Helga! Great Game!" Phoebe said as she hugged her. Helga gave a small smile in acknowledgement, like a big sister indulging a little sister.

"Yeah, You were great out there." said Arnold, beaming at the scene.

Helga couldn't take the attention, "Yeah, well...It's never over until the little freak streaks across a field." she deadpanned.

They all laughed.

"Well I don't know about you two, but winning a game has worked me up an appetite." Helga said, rubbing her stomach. "Anyone down for some ramen?"

"Actually I told Gerald that I would drop off some Chemistry notes, for a...exam...next week." Phoebe fumbled, causing her friend to arch an eyebrow at her.

"How about you and Arnold go?" She said whirling around at Arnold to see if the idea stuck with him.

"Sure. I'd be happy to go." said Arnold, rather elated at the turn of events. Helga eyed him warily.

"Won't your girlfriend have something to say about that?" she asked.

"Huh? I don't have.." but he was cut off. "And anyway you don't have too- it's alright, we can all go out to eat some other time." Helga finished.

"No!" he practically yelled, startling both girls. "I WANT to go..." he started out forcefully then dialed it back, "..if you want to go."

After a beat, Helga responded, "Okay, I could eat."

"Well, then I guess I'll see the both of you tomorrow." Said Phoebe slyly. "Have a good night." And with that she walked off into the parkinglot of the school.

This left Helga and Arnold alone in an awkward beat of silence.

"Well...about ramen. Is there a place you go to?" Arnold asked, suddenly shy. She tilted her head a fraction, and Arnold couldn't help but think that it was somewhat adorable.

He had to admit, being alone with her for the first time since he'd been honest with his feelings- was very nerve wracking. It made him analyze every look, movement, or sound she made.

"It's just south of Central Park, next to where Dukes of Streaker's laundry mat is." Explained Helga, "It's called Drunk Noodles."

"Well that's a good ten minute walk..should we get going?" He asked, and she nodded in response. "After you." he gestured.

They walked for about five minutes in silence before Arnold spoke up, noticing she was readjusting her sport's bag.

Ugh. How could he be so stupid as to not offer to take her back- oh well, better late then never.

"Can I take your bag?" He asked. Helga looked up at him, then to her bag.

"No that's okay, I'm used to carrying it." She said. Again it was quiet.

"That was a great game you played, do you think you'll pursue Lacrosse when you graduate." He asked. The look on her face made him instantly remember about the Jon Hopkins acceptance letter. He didn't think they had a very big Lacrosse team there.

"Maybe, if I get into the college I want." she said and then turned it around.

"How about you? What do you plan to do after high school?"

Ah. The question that he had been torn up about. What did he want to do? He thought he had an idea, but he still needed more time to commit to it.

"I'm..still on the fence about it." Arnold said, kicking a rock along.

"So no idea then?" Helga guessed. "It's alright, not everyone know what they're going to do after High School."

"Yeah, Phoebe said the same thing. But You seem so focused and...well...together about your future. It makes me feel a little...left behind." He explained.

He was startled when Helga burst out laughing.

It was jovial, her mouth wide as the smile reached her eyes. He'd seen Helga Pataki's mean chortle, her snide snort, but he'd never seen the true happy laugh that was before him. His ten year old self would have said she looked 'nice.' His teenager self thought she looked beautiful.

After a minute she calmed down. "I'm sorry. I don't mean any offense. It's just..." She caught her breath.

"It's just, hearing from YOU, that I'm..well..."put together"..."She laughed more. "I'm sorry, It's a private joke."

He now felt insulted. The look on his face gave him away.

"I MEAN, I'm the most dysfunctional person I know, and to hear YOU say that I'm the OPPOSITE." She giggled some more. "It's just funny."

"I don't think you're dysfunctional." He said.

"Please Arnoldo, have you heard my 'self help' ramblings? How many 15 year olds do you know who have strict social wellness plans?" she stated.

"I don't see anything shameful in trying to better yourself." he shrugged. "In fact, its' admirable. You've acknowledged your issues and are facing them, that's far braver than most people I know." He said, his thoughts going back to Lila for a fraction of a second.

"Awe, you make me sound like I'm warrior Xena." she laughed, playfully pushing him, a bit harder than she intended due to her own natural strength.

"Well You're not exactly Mrs. Mary Damsel." He said, rubbing his arm a bit from her nudge.

"Ah we're here!" Helga pointed up at a flashing neon green sign that said "Drunken Noodles" above the establishment.

It was a hole in the wall. But Helga had pressed that it was the best ramen noodles this side of the city.

Helga walked up to the cashier to order two Shoyu Pork Ramen bowls. She insisted it was the best.

Arnold spotted a table in the far right corner and they sat down in a booth.

"Trust me, these noodles will change your life." she said.

"Oh no, should I worry about becoming an existentialist?" He asked in mock horror. Helga laughed at his joke and responded with the same quick wit she was known for.

"If you aren't one already."

Did they ever get along this easily? Arnold thought for a minute. Here they were, all nerves aside- joking and conversing as if there weren't a care in the world. It was natural. It was comfortable. And a part of him was kind of frightened by it.

"So. Football head." She said, her voice still laced with mirth.

"So. Helga." He parroted.

"What brought you here tonight?" she asked. "I mean, shouldn't you be out with Lila?"

oh.

"Why should I be out with Lila, I'm here with you." He said as if that was the magical answer.

"Come on, you don't have to worry- I know you've liked Lila since we were kids and I saw you two at the Labor Day party. We're not 9 anymore, it's nothing to be..."

"That didn't mean anything. Lila was drunk and kissed three other guys that night from it." Arnold quickly explained.

If it's one thing that stuck from Gerald's rant to him, it was to stop being vague and indecisive, it was better to cut to the chase.

Helga sat with a frozen mechanical smile, as if trying to process it.

"Wait. What?" she asked. as if she hadn't heard.

He sighed before answering. "Lila was punch drunk, someone spiked the bowl. After that little..er...indiscretion. She was humiliated and decided to switch schools from the rumors being spread."

"huh." was all Helga could muster.

"Huh?" Arnold questioned.

"No, it's just- I thought..."

"I know what you thought, so I'm telling you that it's a misunderstanding." He stated clearly. "Besides, I don't like Lila like that anymore."

"You don't." She said.

The waitress came right then to deliver their order.

"Two Shoyu Pork Ramen." and placed the bowls infront of them.

"Thank you, Emi." Helga said and the waitress nodded.

Arnold didn't take his eyes off Helga before continuing.

"Actually Helga, I was wondering if it would be okay if we did this more often." he suggested.

Helga picked up her chopsticks and began to dig into her Ramen, listening but still slightly distracted by the food. The next sentenced caused her to nearly choke on her naruto.

"I like you Helga." said Arnold with a tone of finality.

End of Part 2


	12. Curveball

A/N: Ducks and covers for all the hate mail from the year + absence. Sorry life, marriage, and career kinda got in the way... I design exhibits for a living, not really write.

The Curveball

Helga picked up her chopsticks and began to dig into her ramen, listening but still slightly distracted by the food. The next sentence caused her to nearly choke on her naruto.

"I like you Helga." said Arnold with a tone of finality.

Helga coughed a bit into her bowl as she reached for her napkin and tried to play it off as a swallowing wrong.

"Ex..."cough"...cuse..."cough" me?" She managed to choke out as she coughed short hacks into her napkin.

" Ever since I came back, I can't help but be interested in you." Arnold explained, his heart pounding deeply in his chest, he was afraid she might hear it. When he saw she wasn't saying anything further, he continued.

"You've become such an aspiring person, I can't help but be admired by your courage to better yourself and to pursue your dreams so boldly- I'm not even courageous enough to do that yet." He swallowed a bit, "I was afraid of the changes that had happened to everyone, I was afraid of the changes between us... that I may have acted like a jerk to you unknowingly and for that I apologize. " Arnold finished with a sincere plead in his eyes.

Helga managed to get her coughing under control to process the information that was being presented before her. She took several deep breaths, whether it was to clear her lungs or her confused heart- was hard to tell.

"I..." she stuttered. Arnold interjected.

"I don't expect an answer." He said. "I just wanted to let you know how I feel, I know you have a lot going on and I don't want to put unfair pressure on you. You can answer at your own pace- we could get to know each other again... I just like being around you." Arnold finished, satisfied with his confession.

"I...I'm not prepared for this." Helga said finally after a minute pause. "I'm...not...I didn't do everything that I've done for your praise or your attention...or your affection." she explained...her built up emotions were getting the best of her and she knew she had to swallow this pill of anger before it got out of hand. "You can praise me all you want, I'm still an awkward ugly duckling trying to make my way in the world, and for you to sweep in and put me on the same pedastool that you put Lila on..." Helga's irrational anger began to get the best of her... Arnold could see the old Helga's defenses resurface.

"Helga I'm just trying to be transparent with you..." He tried to explain- but she shook her head violently.

"I'm not ready for this." she repeated with finality.

"Why?" Arnold asked, his heart breaking with each passing second.

"Because... You can want what you want... but having it doesn't mean that's the way it should be." Helga said as she pulled out cash from her pocket, the total price of the entire meal and the tip laid out before the.

"Thanks for coming to the game, goodnight Arnold."Helga said as she got up and swung her duffle bag over her shoulder, spinning around and walking out of the restuarant.

Leaving Arnold by himself.

Helga walked out into the crisp autumn air, pulling her ipod out of her jacket she plugged her earplugs in and tuned out the world as she always did.

"Coming to your house, knocking at your door

Your mouth a sip of wine, you cool me, cool me down

Do you know me, you know me, you know me, do you know me now?"

Apart of her was feeling euphoria... the other half was feeling impending doom.

The lovesick girl that lived inside of her had dreamed of this day since preschool, the young woman who had endured years of counseling knew that this was more obsession that love- and that pursuing it would be toxic.

"Now I'm in the dark, I'm not so used to doubt

You're my first cigarette, cause you calm me, you calm me down"

What gull did he have to come to her now and spew this nonsense? She always had her guard up and kept people at an arms length. Her father's abusive words, her mothers neglectful nature- it spurred this insecurity in her according to Ms. Bliss.

Arnold walked through the boarding house door with a weight of depression about him. His father was the first to pick up on it as he sat at the table eating the leftovers from dinner.

"Whats wrong scout?"

Arnold picked at the food left for him by his grandmother, mashed potatoes and cabbage.

"I went to Helga's game tonight." was all he said.

"Oh..is she...the girl you're not sure of?" his father asked.

Arnold said nothing.

This was confirmation for his father.

"Ah...you didn't spring everything on her at once did you?" his father asked.

Arnold looked up, unsure if to tell the truth or not..."Yeah, I told her everything." he finally relented.

His father shook his head. "Well that's where you went wrong."

Arnold rebuked, felt slighly defensive. "What do you mean? I was honest and she brushed me off as if my feelings were childish!" his anger growing.

The amount of passion in his son's tone surprised him, he took it as a passing teenage fancy.

"Well if you sprang it all on her at once without easing into it- than yes, you are childish." his father explained, unapologetically.

Arnold was taken aback at his fathers stance on the situation. "Aren't you suppose to support me?!" he nearly shouted.

Miles didn't miss a beat, "When you are right, yes. But selfishly springing your feelings onto a person is reckless, especially if that person is not ready to recieve them." he explained.

"What's with this!? Gerald's mad at me for not being upront, and my own father is angry that I'm too straightforward!?" Arnold yelled as he threw his arms in the air.

"I'm sure your friend just wanted you to come to terms with how you were feeling, not necessarily make it clear to the other party." Miles stated, still calm and level headed.

"But if I'm feeling these feelings, why should I hold it in?" He asked.

"Well... has this lady friend of yours held in her feelings?" he asked, it was an innocent question but the depth behind it for Arnold was tenfold.

He came to understand Helga's feelings initially when they were 11 on a rooftop and in the middle of a bigger problem...but he shrugged it off. Then it began to become clear to him the odd behavior she had in San Lorenzo. Helga had harbored feelings for him for so long that the depth of it escaped slightly in their chaste kiss among the tribes. Helga had kept her feelings at bay, mostly to protect herself- but also to keep the constant between them. Change may have terrifed her as much as it did him.

He felt like an idiot.

"Son?" Miles asked as his son was silent for several minutes.

Arnold let his head fall into his hands, "You're right, I was being selfish."

"Well..don't be too hard on yourself." his father joked.

"What do I do?!" Arnold asked. "I like her, and I want to get to know her better, but she's easily scared off."

Miles thought for a minute before answering, "Be her friend first."

"What?" Arnold responed, not expecting that as an answer.

"You've been bullied by her, a person she's harbored strong feelings for, and she hasn't seen you in several years- be her friend first, and the rest will follow." Miles said as he took a sip of his coffee. He was appreciative that his son could come to him and discuss things like these. It made up for the times they weren't there for him...if only slightly.

"Thanks dad."

"No problem, son."

-\

It was 11:40 PM on his clock when he laid on his bed to look up at his skylight. Arnold grabbed his remote and turned out the radio alarm to play the hour's DJ. A melodic song strung around his room:

"Ah Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in.

Are you aware the shape I'm in?

My hands they shake, my head it spins.

Ah Brooklyn, Brooklyn take me in.

Three words that became hard to say.

I and love and you.

What you were then I am today.

Look at the things I do."

What would the next week bring?

-\

Next Chapter: West Coast Evening


	13. West Coast Evening

West Coast Evening

Gerald was exhausted. From working overtime to club activities- to having to deal with Arnold's mixed signals. He felt twice his age. He looked down at his watch to read the time. 1:26 AM.

Ugh. His mother was going to kill him. There was no helping it, the local news team wanted a high school student to help with their late nite work, and he would have been a fool to refuse. He could have practically heard Helga's lecture if he turned down the opportunity.

As he walked passed a familiar landmark, mighty Pete, he noticed an orange glow from the treehouse. A part of him wanted to climb up and revert back to his 9 year old self, where things where simple and friends where true.

As he stared up, he didn't notice the figure walked his way until about 3 feet infront of him.

"Gerald?" came a feminine voice.

He recognized it at once.

"Helga? What are you doing out this late?" he asked. He had to deal with the concept of Helga over and over again for the past few weeks, that he felt how rude he was in the question. It wasn't her fault that people seemed to overly obsessed with her.

"Walking, and just be a general weirdo. How about you? I thought you had a cap at 10 o'clock. Don't want the neighbourhood to think you're a delinquent." She responded, readjusting her strap in the process.

"What would that make you?" He asked.

"An anticipated troublemaker- remember I'm destined to be the bad influence due to my chaotic upbringing- you should be fine." She answered, half jokingly. But Gerald knew there was truth in her words.

Helga's childhood was no birdsong. He had began to appreciate his parent's caring when Pheobe had told him of Helga's neglect. If he'd had known she was going through what she went through as a kid- he would have cut her some slack.

"You seem upset." He stated. She knew it wasn't a question.

"We have an odd relationship." She inquired.

"Arnold was once jealous by it." He answered.

"Why?"

"Well, we've worked together closely on projects that mean a lot to our work and our futures. Phoebe may not voice it, but it may bother her how open I am to you about my love for film and audio than I am with her. But as I've told her- my ambitions and my relationship with her are two separate things."

"How do you do that?" Helga asked out of the blue.

"Do what?" he parroted.

"Know when to put someone first before your ambitions?" She asked clearly. But it was more intense than Gerald had anticipated.

"Well...I...You...just know." He stuttered. Unable to answer himself.

"I've worked to hard to let those ambitions go, even for a long standing affection." Helga answered.

-Later

Helga reached home late, just after 2 AM. She spent the last several hours wandering around Hillwood's neighborhoods with her headphones blocking out the ambient city song. Most would highly dissapprove of a young 15-year old girl walking so late at night in a defenseless manner, but growing up in the same burrough and running around with the same kids for 15 years had left an impression on the residents of Hillwood.

Helga G. Pataki was not a damsel, she could take care of herself. Some may not recognize her by first name, but even newer residents could easily identify her as "The Pataki girl."

The front light of her brownstone was off... she mused that Miriam probably didn't even realize that she wasn't home yet.

Helga fished out her house keys from her duffle bag, the lack of light made her feel frantically with her hand for the familiar shape, the motion and sound triggering barking from the dogs next door. She could hear her neighbor yelling "Shuddup!" from the backyard.

After a few minutes she finally managed to find what she had blindly been seeking, and opened the green front door, that desperately needed repainting.

The hallway was pitch-black, Helga could assume that everyone was asleep by now as she locked the door behind her. Not bothering turning on a light, she used her photographic memory to navigate through the darkness up the stairs toward her room.

Flipping the light switch with a 'click', a soft yellow light illuminated her grey walls that were adorned in travel posters, exotic figurines, and framed art.

Two years ago Phoebe had raided her old bedroom decor and demanded that she get rid of her girlish blankets that she'd been holding onto since she was 7. It wasn't that Helga had any attachment, she didn't really see the point in being style forward with her room. So Pheobe and herself had worked til the wee hours of the night repainting and redecorating her room. The only beacon of her childhood lay ontop of her grey and coral bedsheets- a raggedy Anne doll that she'd had since she could remember.

"Clunck" came a sudden noise from her closet. Helga put down her duffle and gingerly walked across her room to open the sliding doors.

In an orange blur, her mother's cat "Mimi" had ran across her feet.

"RREOWW" it exclaimed as Helga jumped from the surprise.

"Stupid cat." She hissed, it must have been locked in there all day.

Mimi had knocked over a stack of books in it's effort to escape the closet.

laying there in the center was a book she hadn't looked at in 5 years, it's binding loose from being overused and tears on it's pink cover.

Her old poetry book. She had replaced it two years ago.

The events of the day flooded through her head. It had started out with a lecture from the principle about behaving, having to stomach her sister's math lecture, and a great victory for their first Lacrosse game of the season. And finally, the events at the ramen shop.

She inhaled and exhaled audibly.

She tried to rationalize what Arnold had told her in every way she could to spin it as her mishearing or misunderstanding. But she knew Arnold's character too well to think he was lying. Arnold was honest to a fault. Sure, he may 'like' her, may even be 'fascinated'- but that didn't measure up to the feelings she had garnered for him for far longer.

She rememebered back to very therapy session where her biggest breakthrough took place.

\- TWO YEARS AGO -

"Now Helga, we've covered your father, your mother..." Dr. Bliss paused before looking up at the young thirteen year old girl, "we still have a lot left to cover of your sister, but today I want us to touch on a topic that brings you out of your comfort zone." the older woman explained as she put down her clipboard and looked at the awkward girl before her.

Dr. Bliss couldn't believe that the blossoming young woman before her was the brash 9 year old she'd met years ago. Thirteen was the age where not only physical changes were happening, but the young mind was shaping itself mentally. Helga was a complex child, she could feel mature emotions such as resentment, duplicity, and cynicism by the time she was eleven. At thirteen, what sort of chaos was brewing in this child's mind?

"Whatever you say doc." Helga replied, lounging in the chair next to her.

"Have you heard from Arnold?" Dr. Bliss asked, prepared for the answer.

"No. No one has. He's off living a happy life." Helga retorted.

"What would you do if you saw him again?"

Helga twirled a pen around her fingers, trying to refocus her emotions.

"I would like to never see him again."

"But if you did?" Dr. Bliss encouraged. "You'll have to face these emotions eventually, and I think that by preparing yourself for the possible outcome might benefit you."

"I..." Helga stuttered, "I don't want to feel anything when I see him." She paused for a moment longer, before Dr. Bliss could open her mouth to urge her to continue, Helga was already speaking.

"Arnold was the only person who has ever seen me as someone worth something, and I used my obsession as an outlet, as an escape... but that's not going to work forever." Helga explained, rather slowly- as if she was trying to convince herself of it as well.

"You know Helga, Arnold may have been your first encounter of compassion, but he wasn't your last. You have your friend Phoebe who knows you and accepts you for who you are. You are also still young, there are more boys or girls out there that will come into your life and treat you the way you've always wanted- you just have to let them." Dr. Bliss answered.

"What I'm saying is this, Helga- You have the power to move forward- you have the power to let go of your first love and take control of your future."

-End flashback

Ever since, Helga had put her own priorities to the forefront. Her dreams, aspirations, and quirks were her's alone. No one could touch them, no one could let her feel they were inferior or unattainable. Helga G. Pataki was a free spirit at last.

Helga plopped down on her bed, her old pink booklet in hand.

She opened it to the first page, and read through it's entirety. What foolish, and confused girl she had been back then. To put her faith in one basket.

-Over the Weekend-

The weekend flew by, the world seemed to move on. That Monday, Helga noticed Arnold was distant, he avoided speaking with her at all costs. Well that was the price to pay, she thought.

Her Lacrosse coach spent two hours of the gym period going over strategies to win against the neighboring highschool, and most of the weight was put on her shoulders, though she shrugged it off.

Rhonda was full force on the Shakespeare play that Eugene had been planning, she guessed he found the haberdashery he was looking for- the costumes looked impecable.

" They can't ALL look like rockstars, but I've done the best I could." Rhonda exclaimed as she finished up Sheena's look for dress rehearsal.

It wasn't until the last period of the day that Helga felt the universe was out to get her. She had wrapped up math, dropped her schedule off to Dr. Bliss, and was leaving her locker before Mr. Simmons decided to hunt her down.

"Helga!" she heard his obnoxious upbeat voice behind her- she slammed her locker door just to take the edge off it's cheesiness.

"What's up teach?" She asked automatically as she turned around.

"You're a tough cookie." Simmons exclaimed, randomly.

"Okay... does that mean something I don't know?" Helga asked, sardonically.

"It means, you are the perfect person to deliver Ms. Lila's final assignments." Simmons explained.

"Oh...Joy."


End file.
